Children of mist
by AgatHatsumomo
Summary: A (long !) story set after the War Games. It's my first work in english, so don't hesitate to notify me any mistake you may find !
1. Chapter 1: Sweet Dreams

_Punished in the moment_

 _Of love_

 _I looked back_

 _And saw the jealousy of_

 _The gods_

 _Overflow the milky way_

Baba Akiko

"Try to murder a McCrimmon, would you? Well, I'll show you! Creag an Tuire!"

Before the swinging sword of the highlander, the redcoat ran in a desperate flee, only to be brutally pinned down on the soaked ground of the moor. Struggling, his eyes fell into those of his assailant, and the fury he saw in his gaze them was enough for him to close his eyes in a last, silent prayer.

But a clattering sound, and a harsh voice replaced the expected blow.

"Go away."

Feeling his body freed from the weight of his assailant, he dared to open his eyes again, and was treated with the sight of the young highlander throwing his musket next to his own sword, and scattering the powder in some sort of raged frenzy.

Gathering himself, the soldier however stayed still, his eyes full of questions to the young man who so carelessly turned his back to him.

"Go away. This game is over for me."

Brought down to himself by the snapped order, the redcoat finally left, glancing behind his shoulder as he ran faster and faster without further ado.

Rain began to fall on the moor.

 **Chapter One: Sweet Dreams.**

Like an automaton, Jamie McCrimmon walked his way through the muddy battlefield, stumbling over corpses, startled by distant firing or shouting. He had to find a shelter from the rain, from the dirt, from the vaguely familiar face of the redcoat who fled before him. From whatever his blurry eyes could be laid upon.

Some hours later, he stumbled at the entrance of a hidden cave, hungry, wet and cold, but soon deeply asleep in his unbelted plaid kilt.

However, his blissful rest came to an end when, in the darkest hour of the night, he felt something tickle his ear, as two small voices drew him from his numb senses.

"Come on, Jamie."

"Come on, mate, we wouldn't let you all alone to handle this, wouldn't we ?"

And his state of slumber didn't last long when he realized what was standing, or rather _flying_ , in front of him.

It was two fairies, a male one and a female one it seemed. The female one wore a sort of striped, figure-hugging dress. For the the male fairy, the triangular collar of his outfit was the only noticeable detail. They were very similar from what he figured from the old tales of his childhood, except that on their heads, no features were to be seen where they should have been, only some sort of… blurry mist, or snow, seeming to fall permanently in the tiny space of their faces.

"Come with us, Jamie !"

"Who are you ?"

"Oh, don't fuss over the details, come on, you have a date with a gorgeous crow and you don't want to miss it, believe me ! said the male fairy in a joyful, mocking tone."

No more willing to pay attention to his questions than his companion, the female fairy drove him gently by the hand to the exit of the cave, so clouded in mist now that none of the landscape outside was ever visible.

…apart from a long, wooden bridge, overhanging a deep chasm, that was very not here the day before.

By this point, Jamie established that all of this was just the dream of a very tired highlander and that the best he can do was to obey and wait for his awakening to come. With this in mind, coupled with a craving curiosity, he dressed hastily, and took boldly a first step on the bridge.

A strange bridge indeed ! As he walked the edifice, the surface became slippery, as it was made made of ice, and shrieked under his feet to the point Jamie was forced to advance one foot before the other like an acrobat. Sometimes, it also bent up and down, so brutally that he would have surely fall to a certain death if his two guides hadn't hold him back (strong little chappies, really !). And it occurred more and more clearly to Jamie that the distance to cross _grew_ as his steps were supposed to get him closer to what looked like the most tremendous castle he had ever seen.

"It's a trick our mistress keeps to test the valour of all her visitors, but do not worry, you will do it ! said the female fairy in a cheerful tone."

Even without her small friend encouragement, Jamie would not have stepped back. He wanted to know, wanted to see. After all, it was just a dream, wasn't it ? And a dream so much more interesting than what he left on the moor.

He was exhausted when he finally reached the castle, whose doors opened all by itself. There, his little companions took his hand again, and escort him through dark, shadowy ramparts and corridors, until he found himself driven to a small room, lit by candles and torches that seemed to struggle against the darkness around.

However, the most remarkable element in this room was a standing silhouette, cloaked in a black cape with a white horned horse embroidered on it, topped with a great black hat, who was looking at what seemed to be a large rectangular mirror. When Jamie's reflection appeared in it, the silhouette turned back to face him, and revealed itself to be a woman of majestic, almost supernatural beauty.

"Good night, James Mac Cruimen, I was waiting for thee", she greeted him with a smile.

"Er… Good night. Who are you ?"

The woman did not answer immediately, but Jamie found that it was not necessary. Her black armoured attire, her pale face, the strange bridge he had just crossed… All these details made suddenly sense in his mind, even if it didn't nothing to temper his astonishment. He didn't really mind, though: after all, it was nothing but a dream, wasn't it ?

"Wait a minute ! I know who you are ! You are Scàthach, the Shadowy ! The magician who trained so many great warriors !"

She smiled fondly.

"I'm glad these old tales are still told and kept in humans memories. But thou and I hast no time for this. As if peculiar wars were not enough, my beautiful island is now roamed and ravaged by countless monsters. And look at those two poor fellows who lead you here, they have lost their faces ! Something needs to be done."

"You want me to fight those "monsters" for you ? Why me ?"

"Because thou hast very personal motives to accept my request. Motives that make of thee the only reason of my presence here, and the only one that can restore what had been torn. Nevertheless, it is true that the ultimate choice resides in thy hands. Rapunzel or The old man on the moon ? Thy soul is the only judge. But whatever thou decide, I would be glad if thou accept this wee artefact from me."

Besides the witch, the two fairies that guided Jamie reappeared, carrying a casket of a vibrant blue.

"Will you give me some weapon for this quest ? Like you did with your former pupils ? Jamie asked, raising an eyebrow before the box."

The magician chuckled.

"A weapon ? Not exactly. But it will be of great use to recollect what thou hast so mindlessly scattered."

Not daring to ask for the meaning of these last words, Jamie opened the casket the two spirits now handed to him. It contained nothing but a small, white-furred sporran, lined in bright blue.

More amazed and perplexed than ever, Jamie put on himself the garment, and not knowing what to do or say next, chose to simply kneel respectfully before the witch.

"It suits thee well. Too bad thou wouldst not enjoy the friendship of my thighs to the fullest…- she sighed in a little, impish smile – But enough talking! It's time for thou to begin thy travel, James McCruimen."

She moved aside from the strange mirror and invited him to come closer. The only thing Jamie could see was his reflection, clouded in the same sort of snowy mist that covered the faces of the two fairies, who were now settled on each of his shoulders. He could also hear some faint, indefinable rumbling, coming from behind the surface. He reached out, and saw his own hand engulfed behind it, like in a pool of cloudy water.

More worried than he would like to admit, Jamie turned towards the magician. Then, the warm smile she gave him, and, most of all, her blue, twinkling eyes filled his heart with some reassurance, and… nostalgia ? She talked again, her voice this time less cheerful, and more sympathetic.

"Goodbye, wee thistle shoot. I sincerely hope thou wilt find what thou art looking for."

Jamie waved timidly at her, and without elaborating further, bravely entered the mirror.


	2. Chapter 2: Looking out for n1

A distant noise of waves.

Crying seagulls.

A slight breeze blowing his hair aside gently…

Jamie opened his eyes: a sandy beach, and the rolling tide of the sea made him blink incredulously. He stood up, twisting his head on every side of the scenery surrounding him, trying in vain to find the answer to this simple but obsessive question: where the hell was he ?!

"Cheer up, Jamie, you're not going mad !"

Appeared from nowhere, the little female fairy was now sitting on his shoulder, along with his male counterpart, who was leaning casually on his left cheek.

"Och, you can tell, both of you ! Look whom I'm talking !"

 **Chapter 2: Looking out for number 1.**

This curious dream that clearly wasn't one, this unknown place where he had landed so mysteriously, the sporran that still hang on his groin, and the fact he was talking to his fairytales fantasies were far too great for him to apprehend and Jamie's head was spinning with all this fuss, as he sat down carefully on the rock he was previously resting, trying to master the flow of his thoughts.

What did he come upon ? He didn't know. He had tried to escape boredom by joining a cause that seemed to be drawn from a tale of chivalry, but the Prince of his dreams had turned to be no more than an opportunist coward, and the epic battles he had been looking out had been soaked in blood and mud. Poor Alexander ! He didn't want to go to France, but couldn't go back home : it would be too dangerous, and in fact… even if he felt guiltiness in admitting it, he didn't really want to neither, as much as he missed his family… And now, he had been set on a quest whom his involvement was more than questionable. He was a little fed up of being the pawn of everybody.

A black cat came to rest on his knees, and Jamie did nothing to cast him away, cradling him without thinking, as its clear blue eyes gazed at him. In fact, he realized, there may have been one good thing the war brought to him after all. This strange, wee chap, who had saved him and his comrades from the death and the slavery, this man who seemed to know such incredible secrets, who subjugated everyone around him, this man, finally, who made his heart twitch each time his twinkling eyes fell upon him.

"Feeling better, mate ? You're blushing. Did you sight a busty seagull out there ?"

Jamie shook his head swiftly, as if to clear the pink taint off his face.

"No, no... I… I just have… this strange feeling, when I think about it, that I have met an extraordinary man."

"Who's that "him" that makes you…"

"Yer talk to yerself, lad ?"

Jamie turned in panic to the source of the rasp voice that interrupted their exchange: an old fisherman was standing there, putting his fishnets in order, looking at him with a slight grin on his face. What if he saw the company standing on his shoulders ?

"Don't worry, mate, you're the only one who can see us ! Good for you, bad for me, I'd rather be the centre of attention of a pretty nightingale…" stated the male fairy.

Or it is one more proof that I'm definitely mad… muttered the highlander to himself.

The fisherman talked again, with his eyepatch and his pipe, he looked like an old pirate.

"Ye' shoudn't fiddle yon beastie in yer arms, lad. Belong to the loonie in the hut out there. A stranger who pretends to know about stars and medicine or whatever, but sure he's the devil's handman !"

He pointed a calloused index to the entrance of a cave on a small rocky island not far away.

"A man who knows about stars ? And medicine ? You said he's a stranger… Err… Doez he talk like zat, by any chance ?" Jamie asked anxiously, remembering the fake german accent of his benefactor.

"Aye, something like that, and I'd better see him strangled to death with one of his own unholy mixtures before noon…"

Could it be… _him_ ? Full of excitement, Jamie rushed from the startled fishermen, removing his plaid kilt, his shoes, keeping only his dirk at his side and wedging the cat in his long shirt in the process, until he dived straight to the entrance of the cave. He was so upset at the thought of seeing the Doctor again, that he was already at mid-term of his goal when he stopped instantly, realizing, that he wasn't supposed to know how to swim.

And yet he was swimming.

Even now, his legs instinctively moved to prevent him to drop down. But who taught him and when ? Could it be another gift from Scàthach ?

An indignant roar put his reflections to an end, as the cat, still in his shirt, left a mark on his chest, more than eager to get out of water as soon as possible. Jamie quickly regained his pace, and reached finally the entrance of the cave, hidden so low in the rocks that it was barely visible, and probably submerged in water at high tide. And as he put his feet on the damp rocks, letting the cat go his way and twisting the hem of his shirt to dry it, he wondered how could the Doctor live in such a place… Well… the Doctor was so intelligent, he would provide a perfect explanation for each of these mysteries !

With a bright smile, Jamie engaged resolutely, following the black cat into a tunnel going lower under the sea, calling for the Doctor. He finally reached what seemed to be a vast, empty pool. Above it, oil lamps lighted an overhanging wooden platform, on whom Jamie climbed thanks to a metallic ladder set on the rocky wall.

On the platform, all he could see was strange metallic and glassy mess, boiling and clanking, and more books he had ever seen in his life, covering walls from roof to the floor. One of the books was standing in evidence on a desk, the white horned horse adorning the blue cover glowing in the dim light of the lamps. On the title, Jamie read out loud: "50 year diary".

The cat mewed, and Jamie heard footsteps. He rose his head eagerly from the book, and rushed to the source of the noise, his "Doctor !" calls resonating on the walls of the cave.

Alas for Jamie, it was a very different man who got out of the shadowy corners of the room.

"Doctor ? No, I'm not a Doctor, I'm razer an alchemist, young man. What are you doing in my lair?"

Wearing a long, white robe with a cloak of the same colour, a middle-aged man now stood in front of the young piper, who shuddered a little under his piercing gaze. But his sly smile, under of neat moustache, showed that the man didn't really mind about the intruder.

"I… I came to… bring back your cat." Jamie uttered sheepishly to the man. He was so disappointed...

The animal jumped in the arms of the scholar.

"Why such a sad face, young man ? It's rare to see an educated fellow around here. Especially one so young and charming… Come on, I will show you my experiments, and you will tell me how you learned to read before a good meal of fresh seaweed."

Jamie jumped at these last words. It was true ! How did he learn to read ? One more mystery to make his head spin… For the moment, he chose to concentrate on the scholar's words, who was now leading him to the blue book on the desk, his hand resting casually on Jamie's shoulder.

"Do you like unicorns, my boy ? For us, alchemists, zey are the mark of hermaphrodism: man and woman at the same time: ze symbol of perfection."

The scholar's hand slided from Jamie's shoulder to his ribs, to finally rest on his hip, where his fingers brushed slightly the back of his thighs.

"And you work on yon unique horned beasties ?"

Unicorns, my boy, unicorns. Not directly, but zeir secrets, among many others, helped me to disclose ze mysteries of ze inhabitants of all waters, fresh or salty !

The alchemist opened a nearby chest, and proudly took out of it a mask in the shape of a fish.

"What you see, my boy, is the result of my countless years of work: wiz zis mask on, a man can become a creature able to breaz and move under water ! Zis is ze greatest discovery of zis century, maybe of all human history !"

"Oooh, I got it ! With this mask, I suppose, fishermen's work would go much more smoothly !"

"Ha ha, I don't zink so. Onze ze mask put, ze process is irrevocable, a child of ze sea you become, a child of ze sea you stay !"

"What ?! So, for what purpose would you use this mask ?"

"Zis one is only ze first step of my great plan, my boy ! I have nearly achieved ze process to make zousands, millions of masks like zese ! Soon, I will convert all people around here, and with zis tremendous force under my power, we will remodel the world in a vast, glorious and battering ocean ! And I'm proud to say to you, my boy, zat you are worzy to be ze first to join my beautiful army !"

"Join your army ? Are you insane ?! Why do you want to destroy everything 'round here ?"

"You'd razer ask me _why_ not destroy it, my boy, are you satisfied wiz what you see around you ?"

"To escape from all this… the bloodied moors of war, the boredom of everyday life… for a new world full of promises and excitement... He considered it. But then, the words "army", "power" used by the alchemist got stuck in his mind. He reminded of Alexander, who died faithful to people who didn't really care, of his da', dead in misery for a cause he was forced to follow out of loyalty, of all those people who died because they _obeyed_. And finally, he reminded of the Doctor, so clever, but so humble at the same time. It seemed to Jamie it would have never come to him to use his knowledge to control other's lives and very existences."

The alchemist held out the mask to him with his both hands.

"So, my boy ? Why hesitate any longer ? Join me ! Togezer, nozing can stop us !"

Jamie looked up, his gaze falling right into the eyes of the scholar.

"No. I won't get fooled by the fine words of a prince anymore."

He brushed the mask from the hands of the scholar aside. The artefact fell with a clattering sound on the wooden floor of the platform. His dirk in hand, Jamie advanced resolutely on the other man, who was now trembling with rage and contained anger.

"And I won't let you break lives like so many did before you ! You will come with me to the surface to be judged, or my dirk will do the work instead !"

The scholar, chuckled slightly, but his eyes, cold and stern, did not.

"It's too late, my boy, as we were talking, ze tide has come and now ze tunnel is submerged, zere's no way to go to ze surface wizout my precious creation for ze next hours ! Prepare yourself boy, you will join me, whezer you like it or not !"

Suddenly, the alchemist jumped on the side and, before Jamie could react, grabbed the mask and put it immediately on his face. The cat hissed anxiously and disappeared in a crack of the wall. Soon, Jamie Mac Crimmon found himself too fascinated and terrified to move any longer.

The mask was now fusing with the face of the alchemist, like… melting. His body convulsed, and began to misshape hideously: a second head seemed to grow on the top of the original. The head of a unicorn, with a mane of seaweed. The skin turned green, the limbs lengthened, the whole body got taller and taller.

And finally, a childhood nightmare took form in front of Jamie's eyes: a kelpie, the legendary monster of ponds and lochs, three sizes as big as a normal horse, and ready to conquer the salty waters of oceans. On its chest, the fish mask glowed like a sacred talisman.

All of a sudden, it jumped above Jamie's head to dive in the pool, now filled with sea water. The young piper spun around swiftly, but could only gasp in surprise when something pulled on his legs brutally and dragged him in water in turn. When he tried to regain the surface, the young piper realized with horror that bangs of seaweed coming from the mane of the beast had rolled up around his ankles without he even noticed it, and were drawing him to the bottom of the pool!

Nearly out of oxygen, Jamie first thought was to cut the binds around his limbs with his dirk. But when he saw the blurry shape of the mask, glowing in the turmoil of waves and bubbles, another idea came to his mind.

It was useless to remove the mask. But what if he managed to break it?

Holding his breath, his dirk clamped between his teeth, he gripped firmly the seaweed at his legs, like it was reins, and began to pull and ascend along the back of the beast. The kelpie bucked and rocked wildly, seaweed dragged him by the wrists, the ankles, slipped under his shirt, tried to enter his mouth, as Jamie progressed, one inch after the other, until he reached the neckline of the monster.

There, he took a last gulp of air, and plunged on the flank of the creature, to directly face the mask, bright in the cloudy water. He raised his weapon as high as he can, and stabbed with all the strength he could require from his bruised arm.

The kelpie howled in pain.

Jamie stabbed once more.

A new, more anguished howl rose, and dark blood poured from the cracks of the mask, to dilute itself in water. The monster bucked so furiously that if he hadn't kept his limbs tied with seaweed, he would surely have been thrown to his death against the sharp walls of the cave.

Despite his aching lungs, Jamie gathered his final energy, and dealt such a powerful blow, that the mask came out in an unstoppable flow of blood. The cries of agony of the beast echoed endlessly in the cave, making Jamie's blood run cold. Convulsively, the seaweed curled tighter than ever around his whole body, in his mouth, as the monster rushed straight in the tunnel, in a desperate attempt to flee from the pain... or to take his tormentor to doom along with him.

Indeed, out of fresh air, Jamie was beginning to suffocate, and even believed to be the subject of hallucinations when he saw his two winged allies at his side, carrying the fish mask.

"Jamie ! We will put the mask on your face, it's the only way to get you out of here alive !"

The young piper shook his head in panic, did they want to turn him into a monster ?

"Stop struggling, mate, now you've stabbed it, it has lost most of its powers. Stay still, we've got no time !"

Five minutes later, blood-tainted water spurted from the entrance of the cave, revealing the dead body of the kelpie, and an exhausted fish-faced Jamie Mc Crimmon. Exhausted but alive. He swam painfully to the beach, seaweed slowly getting loose from his body, and as soon as his palms touched the wet sand, he collapsed on his back, breathing heavily, the mask finally falling from his face.

A rough familiar voice came to his ears, and a vague shape hid the sun to him.

"Are you all right, lad ?"

The fisherman. Jamie sat up slowly, massaging his temple.

"Looks like things hadn't run out like you expected, didn't you ?" He glanced towards the carcass of the monster, slowly dissolving into green foam. Jamie looked at it, at the mended fishnets not far from where he was sitting, at the mask he had taken in his hand, and couldn't prevent himself to regret the waste of a knowledge which could have been so useful for many people.

"Take this, you reckless, I carried them away before the tide does so, "said the fisherman, patting Jamie on his shoulder, and handing him his clothes.

"And dinnae worry, lad, I haven't seen anything", he added, fingering the white rose of the jacobites pinned on his plaid. Then, without any more word that may embarrass him, the old man returned to his previous task on the fishnets. Jamie smiled at him in a silent thank you, but the fisherman didn't seem to take notice of him anymore.

Now on his own, he tried to sum up the events of the day. He knew how to swim, how to read… but couldn't recollect where, when and with whom he learned to do so. He could make no sense of all this. Thus, he was more than glad to see his fellow supernatural travellers reappear allegedly on his shoulders, eager to share their wisdom with him after he thanked them for saving his life.

"These swimming and reading skills... Are they coming from Scàthach ?"

"No, she has nothing to do with your new abilities, neither us. The only gift you received from her is your sporran. You should put the mask in it, by the way."

"What ? But it's too small for it !"

"Try it, mate !"

Feeling irremediably ridiculous, Jamie obeyed... and, before his incredulous eyes, without he could figure anything of the process which could make the whole thing possible, the artefact entered perfectly in the little pocket.

"See ? It has more room that you think, trust us for once, my sweet haggis !"

From this point on, Jamie decided to indulge his brain a very needed rest, and chose to concentrate on a more practical matter.

"Och, aye, but... why do I have to keep such things ? It's not even in good state, all cracked and all !"

"You have to take it... as a souvenir of your past exploits. And as a clue to find the one who taught you how to swim and read."

"But who is that one ?"

The female fairy chuckled.

"Who do you think it is, Jamie ? Apart from Scàthach, who is the only one you met who could have been able of such a prodigy ?"

After a few seconds of pondering, Jamie's eyes widened.

"Are you telling me it's... the Doctor who gave me all this ? And that if I obey Scàthach's orders, I could find his whereabouts ? But... I don't know if I can trust you. You want to have your faces back, I can't blame you for trying to trick me to achieve your goals..."

The female fairy spoke again in a warm-hearted tone, his little hand touching Jamie's cheek.

"Jamie... Scàthach did not give you orders. She told it to you: this quest is yours above all, we are just here to help. You can drop all this, return to your previous life, and I assure you'll never hear of us anymore, but if you want to find the Doctor, you have to follow the trail of those beasties. Seek in yourself, let your instinct decides what to do and if I tell you the truth."

They disappeared.

The young piper closed his eyes. It was true that fairies knew all sorts of secrets... could they be right after all ? He wondered... If it was really him... What kind of magic would he use to give him such gifts ? And why ? What did he, the son of a piper, have, that made him so special for this man to deserve such a gift ? More questions again, but this time, they made Jamie suddenly realize that it doesn't really matter to know if the Doctor granted him or not with reading and swimming skills. If so, he would find him to thank him, if not, he would surely be able to solve this enigma, with brains like his. In any case, Jamie's mind was set: his loyalty was his.

Now, if this trail would really lead him to the Doctor, he still wasn't really sure... But it was the only one he got at hand... and, as a matter of fact, not the most unpleasant, as the strangest of all this was when swimming, he had sort of… reminisced of strong palms crawling gently over his hips, his thighs, holding him up… Even now, thinking of it, he had to admit that despite the dangers, he had enjoyed the thrill of this day's encounter, in such a way he felt the urgent need to be a little on his own, before he got dressed and resumed his journey.

He did so, and at sunset, Jamie sank in the misty horizon of the beach, leaving floating white petals of rose behind him, carried away by the tide.


	3. Chapter 3: Fly Me To The Moon

The full moon shone bright in the sky, lightening the moor.

The fog cleared, revealing the crenels of a tower in ruins, whose only inhabitants for centuries were some sparse crows, nesting between the bricks of stone.

Considering the sudden darkness around him, Jamie Mc Crimmon, wondered if he moved through time as well as through space, as he tore the veil of mist that wrapped him for one hour since he left the beach. At least, he presumed he was on his native island of Skye, if he recalled Scàthach's words correctly. He didn't know this ruin, though, but his neglected body decided, with many yawns and rumblings from his belly, that it was the perfect place for a much deserved rest.

 **Chapter 3: Fly me to the Moon.**

From the inside, the tower looked like a giant pipe. There were no floors anymore, except for the half-shattered roof, whose stone, spiral staircase was the only access. Sit on the first stairs, Jamie realized bitterly that this moment of peace and quiet made him feel the torments of hunger all the more. And of course, he wouldn't find anything edible around there...

"It's time for some sporran exploring, mate, or you'll faint in a second, for sure !" said a voice at his left ear, indicating to Jamie his fairy allies had come back to their favourite place.

Too exhausted to discuss this new absurdity with his little winged fellow or even to _think_ , Jamie searched in the little pocket at his belt, felt something at the bottom... and grab a piece of bread significantly larger than his sporran could possibly contain.

Very functional indeed. (It was the only comment that came to his brain at the present moment.)

This said, Jamie tore the bread with his teeth, making him disappear in a second. He then drew dried meat, fruits, even a bottle of wine from the unfathomable depths that hung at his belt. After a quarter of an hour, he seemed to him that his stomach was, like his sporran, an endless dimension, until he chocked and thus remembered he had to breath between two mouthful of his best meal for days.

Full at last, he glanced around him, and noticed something shining almost imperceptibly under a ray of moonlight, behind a curtain of ivy. Puzzled, Jamie drew the plants back, and discovered a little recess, sheltering a small altar with a wooden chest on it. Jamie opened it without difficulty, and smiled brightly at the treasure he found in it.

In the chest, was a brand new set of bagpipes. A curious instrument indeed ! If the bag were of a plain vivid blue, the drones were painted in a white and blue striped pattern, as well as the chanter. However, it looked in perfect working order, and it pleased him this way.

But would he dare to play ? Redcoats could be anywhere... He looked at the moor outside. There was probably no town, no village, no one around as far as his eyes could see. Soon his mind was set. He wanted to play so much ! He set his hands on the chanter, put it to his lips...

...And saw suddenly a cold and cloudy silvery hand cover his, which was instantly invaded by small, silver streaks, growing visibly from the middle of his palm to his nails and arm.

He gasped in horror and let the bagpipe fell with a clattering sound. He got back three steps away, just to feel another hand seize his ankle, another put itself on his back, another... He looked under his shirt: his chest was gradually invaded with streaks too. Same for his legs. Terrified, Jamie looked around him, and his anguish reached a new peak when one, then two, then more than he could count silver clouds appeared in all directions and began to take form before his eyes.

He had heard this story countless times in his short life. But even in his worst childhood nightmares, he would never have imagined that the spirit that took the Mac Crimmons to their dooms could be so disturbingly misshapen in aspect.

Their height would be of two feet at least. Through their rare, tattered and colourless clothes, their skin was of translucent silver, run through by veins, which seemed to aliment huge pearly white pipes getting out of their back, like twisted vertebrae, joined by some tendons of white flesh starting from the back of their necks.

On their expressionless face, Jamie could dimly discern their mouths, half opened in a faint howling, as if they had been interrupted in an attempt to speak. But it was their round eyes that caught most of his attention and fright. They were totally empty, with no pupils at all, only a cold black void. The eyes of death envoys.

Jamie yelled at last.

"No ! I'm not dead yet ! You won't take me, none of you !"

The ghosts were not flowing, but walking, their boots clunking altogether at the same time, the same pace, like an inexorable force ready to engulf whatever stood in its way. Jamie tried to run, but realized that his streaks covered limbs were almost totally paralyzed. He couldn't even hold his dirk properly. They were getting closer and closer, encircling him, trying to contaminate more and more parts of him with their repulsive hands that Jamie dodged with greater difficulty at each step they made towards him. The young highlander glanced in all directions, looking for a way to flee from the monsters that pushed him more and more to the darkest parts of the tower. He felt the silver streaks crept up along his thighs, his cheeks too were now shining under the moonlight... The moonlight ! If he could go on the roof, he may find a way to escape... but the ghosts were blocking the stairs, he will never reach them before being completely paralysed...

"Jamie ! Play the bagpipe !" the female fairy shouted to him, fingering the instrument that was still lying behind the creatures' feet.

The advice was absurd, but Jamie had no better idea here and now. Diving between the monsters feet, he managed to grab the bagpipe, and stood up proudly to face the horde. If he was going to die, he would not show his fear to these monsters !

He blew in the chanter defiantly. There, much to his surprise, he saw all the ghosts around him took a step back at the same time. He blew once more: they moved back again. Still playing, Jamie made a step towards the stairs, and the crowd of ghosts moved aside and let him pass without any attempt to approach him, literally repelled by the sound of the instrument.

So, playing the best he can despite his paralysed fingers, Jamie began to ascend the stairs, opening his way through the silvery mass, limping and stumbling at each pace, concealing his fear the best he could. The path to the roof seemed endless to the young piper, but as he got closer of his goal, and thus found himself bathed by more and more rays of moonlight, he could feel the streaks receding gradually from his body, encouraging him all the more to continue, step by step, stair by stair, ignoring the meaningless howling that surrounded him, growing louder and louder, like a desperate attempt to cover his own untidy tune.

When finally the moon shone fully on his head, he knew he was completely freed from the hold of the creatures. Jamie turned to face them, and found they were not as great and strong as they seemed to be downstairs. He smiled greedily.

"Ok, lads, I am a piper, that's true, but I won't become a ghost one for now ! Let's see if you enjoy my new song."

The ghosts tried to take advantage of this interruption in the music to resume their attack, but Jamie evaded them, and when he was sure that all of them were now massed on the roof, he ran to the entrance of the stairs, blocking their retreat. There, he began to let his hands ran freely, improvising a tune about moon and stars, about joy and freedom, about the Doctor and his hope to see him again and be carried away to a world full of dreams and fantasies.

This time, his tune did not simply repel the ghosts, he was _fading_ them, making them less tangible at each note he played. Their howling became more painful, more plaintive, and soon, Jamie could see through their frames, trapped as they were under the combined spells of the moonlight and his music.

Shortly afterwards, the last of the creatures returned to nothingness, and the only remnant of their presence here was a sole, old boot, lying on the floor under the moonlight. Jamie picked it up, and noticed that two parts were missing. He put it in his sporran… then, his legs gave way beneath him, and he collapsed on the floor, out of exhaustion, but stress-relieved above all. His mission was complete. Moreover, he had triumphed of his oldest fears, which delighted him greatly. He sighed, intoxicated with his own thoughts. The Doctor… There was definitely something in this man that made him stronger, wiser, and happier too, something that gave him the courage to do all this. And Jamie really hoped this incredible quest would lead him to this one being his mind considered for a second to be the old man on the moon himself. He chuckled slightly.

Now resting casually on his back, he looked at the moon, and noticed for the first time that the spots on its surface had the shape of a reared up unicorn. He smiled, and dozed off, dreaming of another place, another time and probably another step in his journey, as mist began to engulf the moor.


	4. Chapter 4: I Miss You

« Wake up, please, mister ! »

Jamie blinked his eyes incredulously at the two handsome, slender young men who were smiling at him while pulling his arms to make him stand up. He could have been a bad dream, but the ache he felt in his limbs when they began to drag him along what seemed to be an underground tunnel definitely convinced him that, first, he wasn't dreaming, and second, that he wasn't on the tower anymore.

 **Chapter 4: I miss you.**

A strong perfume of incense came up to his nostrils with more and more intensity as they progressed on their way. He tried to break away, but the two youths, tightened their grip on him without losing their smile, and without ever showing the slightest sign of effort. How could they be so strong with such frail frames ? There was a mystery to solve here, and Jamie instinctively knew, back when the guards opened a large wooden door at the end of the tunnel that he was close to the next target of his quest.

They entered the hugest room he had ever seen. Still underground, it seemed that a banquet was taking place in its clay walls. Large tables covered with exquisite looking dishes were lit by thousands of candles and lamps of all shapes and forms. But the first thing the young piper glimpsed was the tremendous globe of iron and crystal that hung from the ceiling, like a chandelier. Curls of odorous smoke came out constantly of it, and Jamie realised the globe was in fact a gigantic incense burner, the very origin of the perfume he smelt back in the tunnel.

The next element to catch his attention in the room was the guests. All of them were tall and slim, men and women, with beautiful features, and long, blond hair. All wore magnificent attires and jewels, whose most notable was a pendant which seemed cut in the same crystal than the incense burner above them. When Jamie passed among them with his guards at his side, they stared at him with a sort of condescending curiosity he quickly found irritating. So, he chose to ignore them openly, and took an interest to the centre of the room. Here, right under the incense burner, Jamie could see a large circular stage with an orchestra playing tunes with sounds he could link to no instrument he knew. He could hear a singing voice too, coming from a sort of strange witch with incredibly tousled red hair... and a harp on her belly ?! But the kind glance she gave him while singing cheered him up quite a bit, and there, he noticed she was the only one to be physically very different from the rest of the guests, to the point she wore no crystal pendant. The orchestra followed him with their eyes until the guards walked around the stage, and stopped before a throne at the back of the room.

On this throne, was sitting a woman who was physically no different from the other guests, except for the garland of flowers she wore around her neck. She looked quite bored however, crossing and uncrossing her long white legs nervously with a slight tinkling of the little bells at her ankles. The guards bowed before her.

"My queen, we have finally found a human challenger for you." one of them stated to the woman, who began to observe Jamie in bemusement.

"Human…" Jamie noted in his mind. He suspected it since they entered the underground room, but now he was certain: he had found a lair of fairies. And he was their ..."challenger" ? He would rather say captive !

"Jamie ! We are here !"

He looked up in the direction of the calling, and saw just next to the throne a little iron bird cage, with his two friends locked up inside.

Jamie tried to run to them but once again, the guards kept him firmly still, like he was some turbulent child.

"Och, all of you, what have you done to my friends ?"

The woman answered in a playful tone:

"You know them ?" she pointed the cage with a cute little foot. "We keep them in quarantine until we solve the problem of these... faulty features of theirs."

"Leave them alone !"

"I'll do it... if you win my little challenge."

"What challenge ?"

"A dance challenge."

"What ?"

Jamie's significantly louder cry of surprise stopped brutally all conversations and sounds. Even the orchestra stopped.

"You and I will dance for my people out there. Don't worry, I give my word as a Queen that they will be the most impartial judges you'll ever see. If you win this contest, your friends will be freed, and you will win my flower garland. If I win, you will be my slave forever. It is a good deal, doesn't it ?"

Jamie knew the world of fairies by what he heard in evening gatherings in his village. He knew that these beings followed different rules, rules that humans should better submit to. But he also knew of horrible stories with people imprisoned or prematurely aged for having eaten, or danced too long with the little people. He had to save time.

"How could these flowers be a decent prize for me ?", he asked to the Queen, trying to sound more confident than he really was.

"Your two comrades told us so", she replied, pointing the cage nonchalantly with her bare toe.

Puzzled, Jamie looked at the cage. The male fairy was humming, as if lost in his dreams, apparently totally oblivious to what was going on around him. Probably bewitched. He shivered thinking he could very well be the next. Her female counterpart answered to his questioning eyes.

"Don't worry, he will be alright. But you have to enter this contest, Jamie, and to win it. Besides, these flowers are the key you are looking for."

"One day you two will have to explain to me how all this stuff can help me to find the Doctor."

"Trust us Jamie ! Did you ever have to regret it ?"

Jamie sighed.

"All right, everyone, I accept your challenge. It's not like I really have the choice indeed…"

The queen clasped her hands in delight.

"Good, good ! Now, if you have no more questions, you will follow this lady out there. She will help you to pick a song… You will also need more appropriate attire. You are the challenged one, after all, so you have the choice of weapons."

Jamie turned around and saw the red-haired singer holding out her hand. He took it, and she led him to a hidden door.

When he returned to the banquet room one half-hour later, Jamie noticed that the stage had been modified in his absence. They were going to dance on each side of the orchestra, where two great poles had been set, twisted like the horn of a unicorn. But the stage was not the only thing to have been through changes recently.

Following the advices of two giggling lassies who attended to him in a huge wardrobe despite his strong protests, Jamie now wore a revealing sky blue shirt, whose ends were tied just under his chest, leaving his belly uncovered. His hips displayed a new kilt, significantly shorter than the other, with a brown tartan which was vaguely familiar to him, even if he couldn't precisely recollect where and when he had seen it for the first time. A white silk stocking on his left leg completed his new outfit, held in place by a garter at his mid-thighs, and long laced ghillie brogues.

As a finishing touch, his face was painted with blue and white diagonal stripes, to not show his anxiety to his future audience, but mostly to conceal the crimson on his cheeks when he thought of what he was going to do and in what getup he was going to do it. But then he thought of those for whom he was going through all this: his two friends of course, but also and especially the Doctor, and a surge of boldness ran through him. Pushing the guards aside, his eyes twinkled with excitement when he finally appeared on the stage, where the singer, the orchestra and his adversary were already waiting for him.

The singer pinched some chords on her harp to give signal to the orchestra. Music started, and Jamie heard the first notes of the tune he chose for them to interpret.

 _i miss you  
but i haven't met you yet  
so special  
but it hasn't happened yet  
you are gorgeous  
but i haven't met you yet  
i remember  
but it hasn't happened yet  
_

Jamie started a classic Highland Fling, trying to move in rhythm with this other-world music. The crowd beneath him howled in contentment. Good point. Apparently, the Queen had not lied: he could expect a fair judgment from them.

 _and if you believe in dreams  
or what is more important  
that a dream can come true  
i will meet you  
_

The queen moved languorously, revealing her white endless legs as she curled them around her pole. The audience cheered her sovereign even more loudly. The match will be tough. But Jamie had never dropped a challenge, even the most ridiculous ones ! And his friends' safety was at stake after all.

 _i was peaking  
but it hasn't happened yet  
i haven't been given  
my best souvenir  
i miss you  
but i haven't met you yet  
i know your habits  
but wouldn't recognize you yet  
_

He made his dance more forceful, adapting his moves to the fast, erratic beat of this unknown music, but it was clearly the queen, and her seductive performance, who was gradually winning the audience's heart. Was it really a _dance_ contest ? he asked himself, a little annoyed, and a little dizzy. He felt so tired suddenly…

 _and if you believe in dreams  
or what is more important  
that a dream can come true  
i will meet you  
_

The queen performed an incredibly acrobatic move around her pole, while Jamie tried to conceal his exhaustion by gripping his one in a clumsy suggestive gesture. But he felt it wobble dangerously in his hand. It seemed to have been very loosely fixed on the roof of the stage. On purpose ? He was too dazed to think of it. This bloody incense made his head spin with discomfort since he entered the stage. Wait a minute. This must be it ! This damned queen was probably poisoning him to ensure her victory ! He won't let her get away with this ! This game had gone far too long.

 _i'm so impatient  
i can't stand the wait  
when will i get my cuddle?  
who are you?  
_

He gathered his last efforts, and tried to use his state of weakness as an advantage by mimicking the languidness of the queen's moves. It was all the more a success when he closed his eyes and focused his mind on the object of his quest: the Doctor. It was for the Doctor he was doing this, for him and only him, whose he tried to see the impish face behind his eyelids. The audience was literally roaring his enthusiasm to his performance, which thrilled him for a few seconds. But he quickly came back to his plan, and gripped firmly the pole, twisting around it with a sensual fury, ripping pages from his adversary's book, to gradually dislodge it from the roof without being noticed.

 _i know by now that you'll arrive  
by the time i stop waiting_

 _i miss you_

At the peak of the song, Jamie finally managed to tear the bar from the stage, and before anyone could react, throw it like a javelin right into the fragile incense burner, which instantly burst into a thousand pieces of glass, cinder flowing everywhere in the room. The singer yelled in surprise, and the orchestra stopped.

Angered, Jamie turned to the queen.

"You didn't play fair, Queen ! Poisonous incense ! A sabotaged pole ?! How could I have a chance to win with such cheap tricks ?" he said, pointing an accusing index to… him ?

Astonished, the young piper could see a handsome man where the queen was standing. He looked around, but it was obvious when he saw the white translucent dress still on his body, that the queen and this man were one and the same.

He looked at the audience. Under his feet, was fidgeting a pandemonium of half-humans beasties, with animals parts, extra-members, fangs, wings, ears or eyes of all colors, number and shape. The two guards, for instance, were now huge trolls with arms like tree trunks. Only the singer, and some people here and there remained more or less the same.

Indignant voices began to rise from several places among the audience and on the stage.

"Is that true my queen ? This incense is poisonous to humans and you knew it ?" one of the guards asked, in an anxious tone.

"It was to protect you ! Humans would hurt us, especially if they knew of our true forms", the queen answered, twisting her fingers feverishly.

"Och, woman, man, or whatever you are, what harm could I have done ? I was just sleeping up there, not even knowing how I came here in the first place. YOU had decided to imprison my friends and make a slave of me !" Jamie remarked.

"Whateverrr it is, I rrrefuse to sing any morrre song if this boy is not rewarrrded forrr his efforrrt !" the singer protested vehemently.

"We have enjoyed his little show too, especially the end, and we will drink you to the last drop if you don't let him go with what he deserves !" said two half–naked women with fanged teeth, cuddled up to each other.

"A sabotaged pole ? You cheat !" yelled a reedy voice from the crowd.

"Your incense stinks !" barked another one.

The "queen" raised her arms impatiently.

"All right, all right, he has won ! Are you happy with this ?" she said with a pouty face, and snapped her fingers.

A guardian opened the iron cage, and Jamie saw his two friends fly to the "queen", take the garland she handed them, and bring it to him. The male fairy seemed to have regained his senses, even if his flight was a little erratic. The falling cinder had done no good to the flowers, but it was still a trophy, and the artefact he was looking for.

There, with the flower garland hanging over his shoulder, Jamie put his hands on his hips, and bowed to the audience, who applauded warmly, including the queen, acknowledging her defeat sportingly. They seemed to be much more easygoing and friendlier now they did not fear to be judged anymore.

Later, Jamie was ready to resume his journey. He had kept his dancing attire. It pleased him finally, and felt it could be of help to remind him of his ultimate goal if he was ever doubting or losing his heart again. He put a new black cloak on his shoulders, adjusted a new stove hat, with two peacock feathers stuck in it, on his head, and began to walk on the moor when he heard a feminine voice call him. He turned and saw the Queen, who, to his surprise, had taken her woman shape again, and brought with her a slight, but all too familiar scent which made Jamie squirm nervously.

« Don't worry, it's too small to hurt you. I just came here to talk", she said while showing, hanging at her neck, a miniature version of the incense burner he destroyed earlier.

Jamie relaxed a little.

"Why did you hide your true form again ? It had nothing to be ashamed of, hadn't it ?"

"I know that, human, but tell me, before you leave, what do you think is the real me ? The one you have seen out there, or the one my heart chose to be ?"

"Well... I don't know... I'm not in your shoes..."

"Are you so sure of it ?"

Jamie didn't answer anything. He glanced at his new clothes, and raised his hat to the Queen, who returned his last goodbye. Then, turning his back to her, he disappeared in the mist, before it got even thicker.


	5. Chapter 5: A Despair Filled Farewell

Jamie knew he had made another jump in time when he saw some brown leaves fell graciously at his feet. He wondered if the monsters appeared all at once, or if something gave birth to them at a special moment in a special place, and if he, himself, would wander the moor without knowing where or _when_ he was until he could find the Doctor.

The mist lifted at last, and Jamie could see some houses in the horizon. Maybe he could find his whereabouts here ? However, he went livid and stopped his advance when he recognized the _baile_ he was approaching.

He was in Borreraig, the very place of his family and clan.

 **Chapter 5: a despair filled farewell.**

He heard a herd of cows coming in his direction. Without further delay, he hid himself behind an embankment, and waited.

"Jamie, your next target is here, we can sense it," a feminine voice told at his ear. His friends had chosen the most inopportune moment to appear !

"Ssshhh ! I can't go there, I can't risk the life of my family, not even for this. Redcoats must be everywhere !"

"Believe it or not, Jamie, Redcoats are not the greatest peril this place has to endure here and now. Look !"

Jamie risked a glance at the herd which now was passing right in front of him. The beasts were perfectly normal.

"Look at their keeper."

Jamie could not see his face, as he turned his back to him. Nevertheless, he recognised the man who was leading the cattle and thus knew he was a fervent jacobite supporter. But something, a detail, was wrong, and he could not exactly figure what. Anyway, it should be safe to ask him if there was trouble around here.

Nobody else was to be seen. It was the right moment. Jamie sneaked between the large frames of the black cows of the herd, and called out the herdsman, who jumped in surprise.

"Jamie ? Is that you ? Don't come near, boy, this place is cursed ! And I am cursed too !"

It was Jamie's turn to be startled: the face of the man was almost entirely covered by a plaid of a plain fabric.

"A curse ? What kind of curse ?"

The man unfolded his plaid. And Jamie covered his mouth in horror: his face was no more than a blurry, snowy surface, exactly like his two fairy comrades.

"Few months ago, some of us in the village had awoken like this. And there are new victims almost every day since then."

"How did this happen ? And why ?"

"We don't know. For my part, it had happened when I started to wear these damned trousers. Even these bloody redcoats have been touched. And... Jamie, you have to be strong: your family has been among the first to be hit ! As if they hadn't suffered enough with yon damned law !"

"What law ?"

"How could you ignore this, lad ? Those bloody English have decided that nobody can wear the kilt or even a piece of tartan anymore. I can't even figure how you could have roamed the moor in yon odd dress of yours without being arrested. And most of all, it is now forbidden to play or teach the bagpipe !"

Jamie's heart sank at these words.

"And as if that were not enough, there's also a monster, haunting our lands !"

"A monster ?"

"Aye ! A huge, flying dragon, with silver scales. I have spotted it wandering around the village more than once ! We can never hit it 'cause it never cease to fly, and no bullet seems to pierce its skin. It didn't hurt anybody until now, but I have noticed one thing: it seemed to get bigger and bigger as people in town lost their faces, as if it fed from our despair."

A cry of anguish filled the air suddenly, followed by a growl. Jamie was now trembling in a mix of rage and anxiety. To hell with the risks ! He had to do all that was in his power to rescue his ma, his clan and his friends !

"I have to go to the village without being noticed. Is there a lot of redcoats, here ?"

"Enough to force us to forget what we are. You take a great risk, boy !"

"My family is worth it."

"I shall have remembered that nothing could ever change your mind, the herdsman smiled slyly. All right, I'll help you to enter in town without being noticed. Bend your neck and hid among my beasts. We'll be in town at noon."

Hidden under his black cloak to better conceal himself, Jamie walked slowly matching his pace with the beasts that surrounded him. It gave him more time than he needed, when they finally reached the first farms, to admit that his guide was right. The rare people, wherein all men wore trousers, who dared to venture outside had their faces erased for the most part of them, heads bent down, like ghosts haunting the moor aimlessly. And it was only a foretaste of what was waiting him at home, he thought painfully.

"We are almost there, Jamie, you... OH ! LORD HAVE MERCY ! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, BOY !"

Before Jamie could understand what was happening, screams of panic filled the air, and cows scattered all around the place, leaving him exposed in plain sight. There Jamie could see what caused such panic to his friend and the animals: the monster, the silver dragon the herdsman mentioned to him, was rushing right towards him !

Jamie pressed himself on the ground, just avoiding huge talons extended to grab him.

The monster should be at least 140 feet long, with a wingspan of 130. If it really got bigger with each face that disappeared, how many people had fallen to this curse ? And why was he attacking now ?

"Jamie, I think he's attacking you… because you're different." the female fairy told him.

"Different" ?

People here had been forced to submit to a rule, the redcoats are all in uniform and some of them are not that eager to fight… You're the only one to be true to yourself for the most part around here, and it doesn't please this rusty chicken ! the male one explained.

The herdsman was right, Jamie. This creature fed from people's despair and you are a danger to him because you have the potential to give them hope, which is a nuisance to his survival and power.

A distant howl interrupted them. Jamie caught sight of a carthorse tied nearby. He got on its back right away, heading for the moor to lure the monster out of the village.

"So… it is the despair that makes people here lose their faces in the first place ?" Jamie asked to his friends, fascinated despite himself by the massive frame of the creature flying in circles around him.

"Yes."

"One thing still bothers me… Can I ask you… what kind of despair made you lose yours ?"

"I'd say… we have been torn from where we belong", they answered uneasily.

They were clearly not willing to elaborate further, neither Jamie: his tactic seemed to work, as the monster flew closer and closer of him.

"You sure have something to do with all this, you tin beastie ! All right, I'll give you a good reason to fear me !" Jamie yelled, as he could now see the face of the creature advancing on him. Like the people of Borreraig, it had no features on his head, not even visible eyes. But the surface of his head was smooth rather than snowy, like the metal it was made of.

Jamie wedged his dirk between his teeth, and managed to kneel on the back of his mount, holding the reins firmly. He was now ready for the impact. The silver talons came closer, closer, so close he could see his reflection on them for a fraction of a second. It was now or never.

Jamie reached out, jumped, and caught one of the talons that were ready to close in on him. He took off instantly with the beast. The horse continued running and disappeared somewhere on the moor. There was no turning back now.

Trying not to look at the ground which was further and further from him at each second, Jamie stabbed the monster's leg with his dirk. It didn't make a scratch.

No wonder the bullets could do no harm.

However, he had to find a weakness. It _must_ have had a weakness. So, slowly, carefully, he climbed along the iron leg, clinging to it for his life each time it shook itself or turned abruptly in his course. He helped himself with small scales of iron he gripped firmly, even if they were sharp on his skin.

When he finally reached the back of the creature, Jamie nearly jumped in surprise: on each of the scale that covered it, was the face of a human ! Some of them were even familiar to him, and now he knew where had gone the faces of Borerraig's inhabitants.

Jamie did his best to think, despite the continuous jolts of the beast that clearly would not tolerate an intruder on its back no more than on its leg. Under these iron scales, there must be flesh, flesh that bleeds if cut. It could be the weak point he was looking for. He tried to lift a scale on the back of the creature, but with no result: it was too thick to be moved. Then, he did not know what could happen to the face on it. He observed the huge frame of the beast, enduring with a good cling each of its attempts to throw him off, and noticed the scales on its neck seemed significantly smaller and thinner than the ones on the back and wings. Besides, no face was visible on them. It gave Jamie an idea he hoped would be the key of his success... and survival.

He progressed inch by inch along the back of the monster, sticking his dirk between its scales and gripping it not to fall when it bucked or made a formidable loop that turned Jamie upside down for a few seconds. His arms were aching with exhaustion due to their continuous effort in climbing and clinging, but at least, after long minutes of slow, multi-interrupted advance, he was finally hanging at the creature's neck.

Using his dirk as a lever, he managed to dislodge a scale, and some kind of black tendons of flesh appeared before his eyes. When a breeder killed some cow in his cattle, he was cutting where the flesh was the most vulnerable, Jamie had thought earlier. Thus, without further hesitation, he ripped the fragile muscles of in a quick motion of his dirk. Black odorous liquid poured from the cut threads like a geyser. Jamie heard the gloomier howl that has ever reached his ears, and the monster bucked so violently that the young piper would have fallen to his death if he did not had the reflex to stick his knife firmly in the monster's body once again, and gripped it for safety. But far from dissuading him to pursue his plan, this fierce reaction encouraged him all the more: it proved that his idea was an efficient one. He returned to his task with a new fervour, grazing his fingers on the sharp scales, his body soiled by the black substance that poured from the monster's veins as he pierced more and more cuts in its skin. The creature bent and shook its neck desperately, but soon its spasms became those of a dying animal.

Jamie clung to the neck of the monster with his both arms when he felt his whole body suddenly lift up from the beast's one. He soon realised why.

They were losing altitude, and the ground was approaching fast. Too fast.

He prepared for the impact. He didn't know how far from the ground they were, but whatever it was, it would be too high to get away from this without damage. Jamie closed his eyes.

The shock was terrible, and Jamie finally lost his grip. Landing roughly on the moor, he saw the creature bounced several times before it scraped the ground and stopped, dead at last, leaving a streak of fifty yards of devastated earth behind it.

Bruised and bleeding, Jamie crawled to the corpse of the creature. Not too far from the beast, he saw a little battered iron box, which should have been expulsed from the monster's body when it crashed. He opened it, and found, much to his surprise, two little dolls of him and the Doctor. Jamie took a closer look, and noticed four empty compartments, suggesting it could contain four more dolls like these. He began to search the grass for the remaining ones, but stopped all at once when, coming from nowhere, fire begun to consume the whole carcass, widely spread, somehow, by the blood of the monster. It really was a dragon after all, Jamie thought, and remembering that he was covered by the very same blood, he fled without waiting for the outcome.

Seconds later, he was thrown on several yards forwards on the moor by the biggest explosion he had ever seen.

He was still holding the doll box tightly in his arms. He quickly hid his new trophy in his sporran, and tried to stand up, but vertigo seized him after only a few steps.

He collapsed on his knees, and seconds later was vomiting blood and bile. He looked at the hand that rested on his belly: it was covered in blood too. He heard a clippety-clop sound behind him. The carthorse had come back. Like in a dream, he struggled to get on his back, and the animal returned slowly to the village.

"Is that a horn that had grown on yer head ? Yer owner will have a surprise, for sure", Jamie smiled faintly, half-collapsed on the back of his mount, his hands gripping firmly the new appendix not to fall. Some minutes later, he heard voices. They should have arrived by now. He could barely see anything, all was spinning around him…

Stains of red passed in front of him. The redcoats ! They were probably coming for him ! Jamie dropped from his mount and hurried in the first house he saw, where he caught sight of a wooden chest in which he hid immediately. Sheltered in the darkness of his closet, he couldn't prevent himself to breath heavily. How much blood did he lose? he wondered, as he struggled not to drift.

"Jamie! Jamie!"

The young highlander blinked, and saw, bathed in a dim light, the silhouettes of his two winged companions hovering before him.

"You did it, Jamie! Thanks to you, our faces are back!"

Jamie gazed at them closely, and gasped at the features of his two friends, now smiling brightly to him.

"Ben? Polly? Is that you? Och… I knew that you and the Doctor were beings from another world..." Jamie whispered with sparkling eyes.

In front of her home, the widow was worried. She could see blood strains leading right through the entrance. Under normal circumstances, she would have asked Malcolm to come with her, but he was far too busy with all this turmoil in the village. Holding his dirk firmly in her hand, she was not trembling, though, when she opened the door to follow the trail of the wounded intruder.

The two fairies began to fly away. Jamie reached out, in a desperate attempt to hold them back.

"No! No! Wait! You can't leave me like this! I haven't found the Doctor yet! You promised me!"

"Don't worry, Jamie, your quest is not over yet ! But you don't need us anymore !"

"Please… I'll miss you, you know…"

"We will too, Jamie, and we have been glad and proud to share this dream with you. But we have to go back to our world now."

Hand in hand, they waved at him until Jamie could see through their limbs, and finally vanished into the thin air of his hideout.

"Good for you. I don't think I could ever return to mine." Jamie thought, more exhausted and weaker than ever.

Suddenly, light entered the chest. Jamie heard a cry.

"Jamie ! For Lord's sake, you're alive !"

He gazed at the woman who called him by name and smiled when he saw her unaltered face.

"Ma ?"

Then he passed out.


	6. Chapter 6: Battle For The Umbra Throne

"Jamie, Zoe…, where are you? That's no fun, it's all white and misty here! I'm lost!"

How long was he walking in this empty space, he didn't know. How wide this space was, he couldn't tell, as all he could see around him was a white thick fog. All he could do was call and call again. But no one ever answered. Never.

Disheartened and exhausted, he curled up in a ball, struggling to keep his voice still.

"Jamie, Zoe… I'm all alone… Jamie, Zoe…, Jamie, Jamie!..."

"I'm here, Doctor!"

"Jamie!"

He got up straight away, and ran desperately to the voice, opening his arms in response of the familiar figure of his companion, who smiled warmly at him. Soon they were in each other's arms, Jamie's fingers tangled in his mop of hair, caressing it gently.

"Jamie! I knew you'd come for me! Oh, Jamie…"

"Ssshhh, it's alright, I am here, I'll look after you…"

"Jamie... Jamie..."

Suddenly, the young highlander saw the man in his arms fade away.

"Doctor!"

Suddenly the Doctor saw his companion torn away from his arms.

"Jamie!"

"No... please!" Jamie's voice started to crack.

"Jamie! Jamie!" he heard again, this time in a louder, different voice.

"No! I can't leave him! He needs me!" the young highlander shouted desperately.

"Jamie! Wake up, lad! And stop struggling, it's me!"

Jamie woke up and felt the fresh air of the night on his skin. He was in the arms of his uncle Malcolm, who looked at him with concern. He had walked in his sleep again.

 **Chapter 6: Battle for the umbra throne.**

"It's happening almost every night, I'm worried, Malcolm, I fear for... his sanity."

Malcolm MacCrimmon put a broad hand on his step-sister's shoulder.

"We have all been shaken up by this war, Heather, and he has not fully recovered from his injuries. What I fear most is rather the day when a redcoat or a Mac Leod will find him before me..."

"You know Malcolm, sometimes I wonder if it does mean something to him yet. All day he wanders in this odd dress of his, talking nonsense about moon, monsters, reading, doctors... And by night, I caught him several times in front of the cave, looking at the sky, and I, his mother, can barely recognise him. His eyes are so dreamy, full of hope... and of a terrible sadness at the same time. It's like... he lost all interest for the world around him."

"Aye... he may have your face, Heather, but inside, he's all like my poor brother..."

"I don't want him to end like Donald!"

Malcolm hugged the trembling woman, looking at her with that kindness in his eyes that made such a contrast with his huge frame and beard.

"Don't worry, Heather, he's well hidden, and we'll look after him. I'm sure that in the end, he'll know what's good for us all."

At the entrance of the Pigeons'cave, where generations of Mc Crimmon's daughters had perfected their art of piping, Jamie, wrapped in his plaid, watched the moon shining on the roof of his home, nestled in the wild grasses of the moor. The more he thought about his nightmare of the last night, the more he was convinced it was a sort of message. And the message was clear: the Doctor was lost, or trapped somewhere. He could not stand to be stranded here any longer! His wounds were nearly a souvenir, now, and at the first opportunity...

However, one matter still filled him with worry since he had come back: his mother was not alone of course, but could he leave her like this once again? Even if he was risking her life by staying hidden there? He did not even know his brothers' whereabouts right now... Och, what should he do? All he had now to find the Doctor was a dream, and he did not know what would be the best for his family...

"Jamie! You're still awake?"

Distracted from his reflections, Jamie turned his head to the little girl that waved at him with a bright smile.

"Good evening, Fiona. It's getting late, you know, your father will scold you!"

"I won't stay long! Tell me first what you think of my hair today!"

She turned and showed him her red hair, perfectly tied in a braid with flowers and ribbons.

"You're beautiful as usual!" Jamie answered in a cheerful tone.

She blushed lightly. Jamie liked his cousin. She came every day since he had been brought secretly to the Pigeon's cave to recover from his last fight. She was supposed to practice the bagpipe there, but was more eager to share her little girl's concerns with him.

"Jamie, I have a gift for you! I heard da' tell you had bad dreams, and I thought this: when it happens to me, I always hug my doll Moira in my bed and it gets better, so I have done this for you, with my own hands, real cloth and all!"

She proudly handed him a doll, which was a larger stuffed replica of the Doctor's one that Jamie found near the corpse of the silver dragon.

"You like it? I know that boys don't like to play with dolls, but as you look at the tiny one with the bowtie very often, I said to myself you loved it very very much, and..."

Jamie could not help but hold the doll tightly against his chest.

« Thank you, Fiona. It's... it's very nice... » he answered in a murmur.

Stopping her babbling, the girl nibbled her braid at the compliment, her cheeks as red as her hair.

« Do you want to hear the end of your story in return? Before you go to bed? » Jamie asked kindly, willing to put an end to his cousin's embarrassment, and his own emotions.

She broke into a giggle, and sneaked on the bed at his side.

"Do you remember what I told you last night?"

"Aye, when the nasty inhabitants of the town refused to give the piper the gold they promised him if he eliminated the rats."

"Right! So, after a couple of days, the piper came back to town, and began to play. But this time, it was not the rats which followed his music."

"What was it?"

"One after the other, all the children of the town left their home and, walked behind the piper. Nothing could stop them, nothing could convince them to stay. The piper led them out of the town, and like in a dream, they walked until they reached a great door of stone. The piper played a tune, and the door opened. Then, he and the children entered all at once. The door closed, and all of them were never to be seen again. So ends the story of the Pied Piper."

"It's a horrible end for those children!"

Jamie cradled her cousin's head gently, smiling at her eyes wide with indignation.

"Who knows? Maybe the piper took them to a joyful, beautiful place where they could live happily ever after. Such ungrateful people were probably not very good da' and ma', don't you think?"

"Maybe. But, I think of something funny."

"What is it?"

"When you walk at night, maybe it's the piper that draws you to him!" she chuckled.

"Och, Fiona, I'm not a bairn anymore! Now go to bed or your da' will larrup you!" Jamie answered in a false scolding tone.

She laughed even more and scampered out of the cave.

Jamie closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep, the doll still under his arm. He didn't make any nightmare this night. Maybe Fiona was right after all? He was still dreaming of the Doctor, though, but this time with a teasing taste of secret and forbidding that made him groan in regret when a noise, like a flying insect, but much louder and regular, came to his ears and interrupted his slumber.

He woke up and hobbled over to the entrance of the cave. It was covered by the fog of the night, but it was clear to Jamie the humming sound was coming from there. He dressed hastily and seized his dirk, even if he knew he wasn't in condition to fight properly. But after only a few steps in the mist, his fingers met stone. A wall of stone. Dumbfounded, he pressed his hands on it, and felt it move like it was on an axe. A door? He pressed again, and the wall glided, allowing Jamie to exit from his shelter and the surrounding mist. The young highlander could not help but stagger in surprise when he found himself on the top of a tower overlooking the courtyard of the most formidable stronghold he had ever seen.

This castle may be huger and had even more ramparts than the castle of Scàthach. How such an edifice could be still unnoticed so close to Borreraig? But... how could he be sure he was still at Borreraig?...

Suddenly, the sound made itself hear again. Fearing danger, Jamie hid behind the secret passage, just in time to see through the opening two cylinder-shaped silhouettes passed in front of him. It was two knights, like the one he saw sometimes on pictures at church, but of the most bizarre species.

Their bodies, that were roughly the same height as Jamie, had the shape of a cylinder, flared at the low part. No skin was visible under the armour that covered their bodies entirely. The two of them wore a spear in the right hand, and a round little targe in the left. Above their helmet, a long twisted horn of iron pointed forward, and Jamie wondered if this appendix was supposed to impale the enemy or simply impress him. Maybe both.

The special humming Jamie heard back in the cave came from their moving. No feet or legs were visible, hidden, if they only existed, by large metallic tassets. They did not seem to walk anyway, rather glide along the floor. In a quick glance, Jamie noticed there were a lot of these things patrolling here and there on the ramparts, especially around the dungeon, a great, dark tower, which dominated the centre of the stronghold. Something important should be kept here. Something... or someone?

Could the Doctor be hold captive in this place? Jamie wondered, stirred despite himself by this thought. Whatever it is, he had something to do here, and he knew he could not go back when he looked behind him and saw the inside of the tower, instead of the misty entrance of the Pigeon's cave.

His eyes got accustomed to the darkness of the round place, which allowed him to jump in surprise when he saw the three knights facing him at the back of the room.

He was surrounded! If he got out, he would be caught by the others in the court, if he stayed, he would be... nothing?

They did not move at all. No humming, no gliding. Nothing. They were like... dead. However, when he looked closer, he could felt warmth in each of them under the palm of his hand. What the hell were these things? Or beings? he wondered, as he examined the third and last of the knights.

"DAD?"

Jamie's eyes grew wide. He was perfectly certain he was alone in this tower. He turned abruptly, his dirk in hand, and came face-to-face with the first knight he had inspected earlier, very alive and well.

Another rasp voice rose in his back.

"DAD?"

The second one had awoken too.

"DAD!"

And this would be the third and last. Jamie was totally encircled.

"You won't get me, demons! Craig and Tuire!" he shouted, rising his dirk, ready to defend himself at the first strike...

...which did not come.

"WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING, DAD?"

"You're not... attacking me?"

"WHY? YOU'RE OUR DAD!"

"Why are you all three calling me dad?"

"YOU GAVE US LIFE BY TOUCHING US, WHICH MAKES YOU OUR DAD."

"So that's how it works for you, eh? But how your bodies appear in the first place?"

"THAT'S THE WORK OF MUM EMPRESS."

"Mum Empress?"

"MUM EMPRESS GAVE US LIFE, BUT SHE FOUND US FAULTY, SO SHE PUNISHED US..."

"..BUT YOU GAVE US LIFE AGAIN, SO IT'S YOU, OUR PARENT, NOT HER ANYMORE."

Jamie had noticed that each of the knights was lacking something: one was hornless, the second had no targe, and the last had no spear. He was beginning to resent seriously these perfection-obsessed tyrans, and he felt a surge of empathy for these three strange beings who did not ask for anything and had visibly no alternative but to trust him desperately.

"All right, all of you, I'm your da', but I want you to tell me a few things first."

"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?"

"What is so tightly kept in that dungeon out there?"

"THE ROOM OF MUM EMPRESS... AND HER GUEST."

"Her guest? Who is it?" Jamie asked, his heart full of a new hope to see the Doctor.

"WE DON'T KNOW. MUM EMPRESS NEVER LET US SEE HER GUEST."

"Do you know a safe way to go to the dungeon?"

"YES! WE COULD EVEN LEAD YOU TO IT!"

"But, your tin chaps outside, they will notice us, won't they?"

The three knights answered nothing, and Jamie could almost feel their embarrassment.

"Well, I think I got an idea. One thing first: what's your names?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

"I see... If I call you Angus, Bruce and Oengus does it suit you?"

"MUM EMPRESS NEVER GAVE US NAMES!" the hornless Angus answered, in a tone Jamie decided to regard as a cheerful one.

"Here is my plan: one of you, Angus or Bruce, will lend Oengus his spear. That will make him a "complete" knight, eh? Then, he will pretend to have captured us and be on his way to show us to the Empress. Does that sound good to all of you?"

"THIS IS GREAT!"

Jamie could almost swear they were _smiling_.

The stars upon them were almost surreal when Jamie walked the ramparts escorted by his "children". He observed along the way that in fact, the walls of the stronghold were spiralling to the centre, where the dungeon stood, dark and menacing. The guards were totally oblivious of the superchery, following their lines like ants for their queen. Curiously, all in this place reminded Jamie of a giant clock: a perfectly settled and regular mechanic. But who knows what a grain of sand could do...

When they reached the huge gates of the dungeon, Jamie saw Oengus raised his targe and his spear to press them in two recesses on the doors. They glided and disappeared in the walls, much to Jamie's astonishment. He and the three knights entered an empty room with a low ceiling. No stairs or inner door were to be seen, but Oengus activated some panel on the wall the same way he did for the gates, and soon, Jamie felt a little sick, as the roof began to go up under his feet.

They remained silent during their ascent, and when the platform stopped, the wall behind Jamie glided in turn and revealed a large hall, bathed in dark, whose only source of light came from tiny round spots divided in two rows, forming a path Jamie followed after his newfound allies. At the end of the luminous path, some lights turned on suddenly from the ceiling, and Jamie came to face one of the most formidable creatures he laid his eyes upon (and he was becoming a connoisseur in that domain).

It should be thirty feet tall, and wore an armour like the knights, though quite different in its appearance: the helmet had the shape of a unicorn head, and the chest was asymmetric, as if the body was divided in two half: a female one and a male one. The arms of the entity were kept crossed on its chest, and no weapon was to be seen in its bare gigantic hands. However the most remarquable part of this cyclopean body was its lower, half-covered by the same tassets as the knights, that let see under the waist a gigangic bubble of glass.

The unicorn helmet rose slowly, and a sonorous voice broke the silence of the room.

" _WHO CAME TO TROUBLE OUR PEACE AND HARMONY?"_

Jamie couldn't tell if this voice was a feminine or a masculine one. It was powerful like an organ at church, but also suave and... vaguely familiar, inspiring fear and belonging at the same time.

"I am James MacCrimmon", Jamie answered, clenching his fist not to give in to his stupor. "Are you... Mum Empress?"

" _YES. I AM THE EMPRESS, THE MASTER OF THIS STRONGHOLD, BORN FROMTHE DESIRES OF ONE'S HEART. "_

She bent her head to him.

" _I KNOW YOU, JAMES MAC CRIMMON. AND I KNOW YOUR HEART. TELL ME. WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THE DOCTOR?"_

"You know that I'm looking for him? I want him no harm, if that's what bothers you. He saved my life, you know."

" _THIS MAN MEANS NOTHING TO ME. BUT YOU... DON'T YOU HAVE SOMEONE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TO CARE?"_

"What do you mean?"

The bubble of glass began to glow all of a sudden, and Jamie could see it was not empty. He stared eagerly, and could not hide his surprise when he recognised the unconscious form trapped inside.

It wasn't the Doctor who laid in the globe. It was Fiona!

 _« SHE'S SO FRAGILE, DON'T YOU THINK? IT'S YOUR DUTY TO KEEP HER SAFE. WHAT USE COULD YOU BE OTHERWISE? »_

Jamie rushed to the bubble with a limp, his hands punching the smooth surface in vain.

"What have you done to her? Release her or…"

" _OR WHAT? WHO WILL PROTECT HER IF YOU RUN AWAY AGAIN, CHASING A CHIMERA?…"_

"The Doctor is not a chimera! He is… och, I don't know who is he but…"

" _SO YOU ADMIT YOU RUN AFTER A SHADOW? A MAN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE REALLY CAN BE TRUST? HE SAVED YOUR LIFE? DO YOU WONDER WHY? MAYBE YOU WERE JUST USEFUL TO HIM AT THIS TIME? AFTER ALL, HE LEFT YOU WITHOUT LETTING YOU KNOW HIS WHEREABOUTS, DOESN'T HE?"_

"I think… I think he does call me… in a way. Each time I close my eyes, I see him. He seems to be in danger…" Jamie answered. His voice was less and less confident, as well as his heart.

" _DREAMS CAN BE LIES, OR…_ _TWISTED, FILTHY THOUGHTS… »_

Jamie blushed with anger and embarrassment.

"Whatever you know about my dreams are none of your concern! Now release Fiona!"

" _I COULD DO IT, IF YOU SWEAR TO STAY AT HER SIDE AND PROTECT HER._ _YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR HOME NOW, IT'S NO USE TO WANDER THE MOOR ANYMORE. WHY NOT STAY WITH YOUR FELLOWS, INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING A STRANGER? YOU HAVE NEGLECTED YOUR DUTIES TO YOUR FAMILY FOR TOO LONG!"_

Jamie remained silent. She seemed to know all of the turmoil in his heart since he had returned to Borreraig.

« I am a jacobite, if I stayed longer, the redcoats could find me and arrest all my family, » Jamie uttered, struggling not to lower his eyes.

 _« SUCH A PITIFUL EXCUSE TO ABANDON PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU AND ARE READY TO DIE FOR YOU ANYWAY. SEE WHAT YOUR FUTILE QUEST HAD GIVEN YOU. LOOK AT YOURSELF, CRIPPLED AND ALL!"_

Jamie looked at his bandages, then at Fiona. He did not know what to think, let alone what to decide.

" _JOIN ME, BECOME ONE OF MY KNIGHT, LIKE THE ONES YOU ADMIRED IN YOUR CHILDHOOD. YOU WILL PROTECT HER, AND BE A HERO ON YOUR OWN. OR YOU WILL BE NOTHING BUT A SINNER."_

Jamie began to shiver, so lost in distress he could almost feel his wounds bleed again.

"WHY ARE YOU TREMBLING, DAD? ARE YOU ILL?"

Jamie turned and saw the three knights waiting behind him. He had nearly forgotten them! They were hiding in shadow all this time, and Jamie realized they were probably very afraid of their Empress. Yet, they chose to guide him without questioning, because they had faith in him. Choice... Faith... Jamie looked at his clothes, at the brown tartan of his kilt and the little sporran that adorn it, and felt a new surge of boldness run trough his veins.

His eyes were clear and serene when he talked to the Empress again.

"You're right, I probably have someone to care... But I'm not the only one here!"

He pointed at Angus, Bruce and Oengus.

"I found these three chaps dumped out there like trash. They told me you were responsible for bringing them life, and that you judged them faulty."

" _THEY AREN'T SUITABLE."_

"Why?"

"FIONA DOESN'T NEED TO SEE TWISTED, INVERTED THINGS. SHE NEEDS A PEACEFUL LIFE."

"But their missing parts could be replaced easily, eh?"

" _THE INSTANT THEY ARE NOT BORN LIKE THE OTHERS, THEY ARE STRANGERS, AND STRANGERS TROUBLE THIS SHELTER. WHOEVER IS NOT LIKE YOU, MAY BE AN UNKNOW IS AN ENEMY."_

Jamie put his hand on Angus'shoulder.

"It's a cruel way of thinking, Empress. I wonder if the Doctor would treat imperfection this way."

" _THE DOCTOR IS A LIE!"_

"The Doctor... I don't know who it is, that's true but, precisely, I want to discover it. One cannot know the truth if one stay confined. My dreams may be an illusion, but how can I be sure if I don't go to check it?"

" _FIONA NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED!"_

"Fiona needs to decide herself too!"

Returning his attention to the bubble, Jamie grabbed his dirk, ready to break the globe of glass once and for all. The queen did not show any sign of resistance. The highlander rose his weapon, ready to stab and shatter the seemingly fragile surface, but, much to his surprise, his arm met no obstacle this time. It sunk, just like it was in water. Then, Jamie realised, much to his horror, that he was drawn into the bubble, by an unknown strength that could break his arm in a second if he resisted.

" _AS SOON AS YOU ENTERED MY SHELTER, YOU WILL BECOME ONE OF MY KNIGHTS. IT'S YOUR FATE, YOUR ONLY REASON TO LIVE."_

Jamie tried to pull his arm out of the membrane, but it only increased the pressure on his limb in response, and the young piper yelled in pain as some drops of blood spilled from one of his wound. His legs stopped to carry him, and finally, inch after inch, he ended up inside the bubble with Fiona.

The pressure lifted his arm. The pain ceased immediately. All pain ceased immediately. It was warm and peaceful here. Fiona was all right. She was sleeping quietly. He felt very tired himself. He closed his eyes. But not to doze off. To concentrate. He had to concentrate. He was looking for something. Someone. The Doctor... So little he knows... Thus why?

He slowly opened his eyes.

Because of faith. It was all a question of faith...

"DAD IS IN DANGER!"

"DAD IS IN DANGER!"

"DAD IS IN DANGER!"

The three muffled voices returned him to his senses once and for all. Through the bubble, he saw Angus, attacking the queen with his weapon, creating a diversion while Bruce pointed the end of his spear through the membrane to Jamie.

Quickly, the young piper grabbed Fiona's arm with his left hand, and the spear of Bruce with the right, and in a second, they were pulled out of the globe, exhausted and distraught. Sheltered by the targe of Oengus, Jamie, cradling Fiona in his arms, assisted at a furious battle raging between the queen and her two prodigal sons.

The empress moved her two gigantic hands, which could surely sweep or crush the knights like walnut despite their armour. Jamie noticed that where he stood, Oengus was blocking the wall they entered through, which now glided back and forth non-stop. Jamie was relieved: he did not understand all the process, but he was sure of one thing: reinforcements won't come this way! Still, the outcome of the fight was less than certain...

Entrusting Fiona to Oengus' good care, Jamie observed the Empress carefully. She was powerful but slow, and seemed unable to move from where she stood. From here, Angus and Bruce looked like two flies annoying a sleeping ogre, as they tried in vain to pierce the tassets of the Empress with their spear, while evading her continuous hand attacks.

A terribly risky plan came to his mind. He crawled to Angus' side, at the right of the Empress, and whispers briefly to his ear. Then, he planted himself, hands on his hips, in plain sight of his enemy. She was fast to react, and immediately smashed her flat hand right on his position, in an attempt to crush him. Jamie had only the time to jump aside. He had well guessed: he was her main target now. But she was the same to him.

"ANGUS! NOW!"

There, Angus rose his spear and pierced furiously the hand before it got off, nailing it firmly to the ground. The empress yelled. Jamie ran to the other side of the room, next to Bruce, and the left hand of the Empress.

Now, it was her turn to choose: will she use her left hand to free herself, or to annihilate his rival once and for all? She tried to pull her right hand from the ground, but the spear stood firm, and Angus had climbed on its back, adding weight for more safety.

Her decision was quickly made, and Jamie rolled just in time to evade the deadly shock. The left hand did not have the same luck, as Bruce, in turn, pinned her on the ground with his spear, like a butterfly on a glass panel.

Now, she was completely defenceless, reminding Jamie of a grotesque Christ. Jamie walked quietly to her, as she struggled in vain from Angus and Bruce's grip.

"You are finished, Empress, promise you let us leave this place together safely, and I'll free you from your binds."

" _ALL OF YOU, YOU'LL BE DAMNED FOR THIS! AT THE FIRST STEP OUTSIDE, MY KNIGHTS WILL TEAR YOU IN PIECES!"_

"Then, you leave me no choice."

He climbed along one arm of the Empress, until he reached her unicorn-shaped helmet. There, Jamie took his dirk and pointed it directly at one slit that may be an opening for the eye.

"Let us get out of here, or this dirk will be the last thing you ever see!"

" _FOOL! YOU WON'T KILL YOUR OWN..."_

"You want to bet? I have people to care, you told me so. And I'm ready to do anything for them," Jamie said with cold eyes, perhaps more piercing than his dirk.

" _IN THAT CASE, I HAVE NO MORE REASON TO WORRY."_

The front of her helmet burst suddenly, and Jamie could have fallen badly if Angus and Bruce did not catch him just in time. Seconds later, all four witnessed a most extraordinary phenomenon.

The body of the Empress seemed to melt like ice, dissolving itself in a thick liquid from which emanate fumaroles of smoke. Minutes later, the lower half of her body had disappeared, and the Empress was lying on the floor. Jamie approached and bent over her, trying to see her face through the hole in her helmet, but it was already half-consumed and so filled with smoke he could not even tell if it had been human once. He put his hand on the side of her face, gently.

"Why did you do this to yourself?" Jamie asked her, more sorry than he meant to be.

" _I HAVE NO USE ANYMORE, AND, ANYWAY, I'D RATHER CONSUME MYSELF THAN LET YOU CONSUME YOURSELF INTO SIN BY STABBING ME!"_

More liquid poured from her mouth. Jamie does not take his eyes off of her. He would not.

" _TAKE... GOOD CARE... OF... FIO..."_

Her face poured like a waterfall from the helmet, and the only features he now saw was his own, reflected by the metal inside. Soon, this helmet, and the rest of the armour, were all that remained from the one being called the Empress.

A strip of bandage detached itself from his wrist, which made Jamie realised he did not need them anymore. He had jumped, ran, and agitated himself everywhere since the last minutes without the last hiss of pain. Even now, he felt healthier than ever. He was cured! It must have happened when he was trapped in that bubble... What a curious being this Empress was, really...

He turned his back to this bleak spectacle, his mind full of wistful thinkings, when his fellow Oengus urged him to concentrate on a more important matter...

"DAD! FIONA IS NOT HERE ANYMORE! SHE MELTED TOO!"

Rushing at Oengus' anguished calling, Jamie could only find some thick water, and a laced handkerchief in shreds, just where she was sleeping. He knew deep in his heart, without knowing why, that the Empress would never hurt the little girl, so, was she a mere illusion all this time? A mean to test his valour? he wondered as he put the piece of fabric in his sporran. After all, maybe it was better like this. It could have been an awful experience for her if she really had been there... In any case, there was nothing to regret: if it was not for Fiona that he faced danger, it was for these three chappies who, more than him, deserved the cheering he was hearing from them.

However, some dust falling from the ceiling distracted them from their rejoicing, and the roof began to shake under their feet, creating large cracks on the walls.

The dungeon was falling apart!

They hurried to the moving platform, which fell more than it went down to the first floor. Outside, all the patrolling knights now laid lifeless, and Jamie noticed, while they ran away from the falling tower that they began to dissolve themselves too, although that, contrary to their Empress, there was nothing to see under the metal shell. They were all empty. Jamie shivered and looked, thoughtful, at his three companions. Thereupon, he joined them in search for an exit to this accursed place.

However they realised, while going along the thick walls of the fortress, that there was simply no door to go outside. Jamie got closer to his metal companions. Would they be trapped here forever? Angus, Bruce and Oengus began to gather around him, so tightly Jamie feared to be crushed between the metal plates of their chests. But when he understood the reason of their sudden need of closeness, Jamie quickly curled himself into a ball under their solid frames: it was the turn of the walls and ramparts of the stronghold to crumble into sand and dust!

During the longest minutes of his life, Jamie's universe was a nothing but the sinister rumbling coming to his ears, the smell of iron and brick coming to his nostrils, and the earth that shook endlessly under the soles of his shoes. He tried to open one eye, to check the state of his companions in misfortune, but the clouds of dust and the darkness of his shelter discouraged any further tentative.

Finally, silence fell. But it takes a few minutes to Jamie and his friends to dare venture out of their protective stance. They gazed incredulously at the new landscape around them.

The black walls of the stronghold were no more. Not even ruins were to be seen out there, and now, nothing could prevent the rising sun to shine on them, piercing the thick fog on the moor.

Jamie looked at his three friends, wandering around, and called them up. They came to him like chicks to their hen. He hugged them tightly.

"Do you know a place called Borerraig?"

"YES DAD! QUITE SO, DAD!"

"I see... I have a favour to ask you, before I leave."

"WILL WE BE ALONE AGAIN?"

"No, no, listen to me! You three, could you take care of my ma' while I'm away? Tell her that I'm all right? She will be surprised to see you, of course, but I'm sure she'll be very fond of you!"

"OF COURSE!"

Ten minutes later, Jamie and his children said goodbye to each other. The young piper kept watching them leave until they disappear in the mist of the moor. He could have gone with them of course, but deep in his heart, he knew it would have made things so much more difficult afterwards. His heart was aching a little, of course, for abandoning his mother again, but in fact, the only real guilt he felt now was to have doubted the Doctor, even for a second. He may have had a good reason to disappear like this, and if he really was imprisoned, who could save him but he, Jamie, himself? He only had his dreams and his determination for support, but that was good enough for him. There cannot be love or loyalty without faith, and that was the most important thing he learnt from these three metal bairns of his.

He was sure of one thing anyway, as the mist engulfed him once again: he could never come back to his previous life. Trouble seemed to fancy him those days, and to be honest, he was not so discontent with that.


	7. Chapter 7: Phantasm

Jamie shivered and his mouth gave off steam when the mist lifted around him. He wrapped himself in his black cloak and looked around, but all he could see was of perfect, unadulterated white. Deep snow has fallen on the moor.

The only noticeable element in the surrounding area was strange knee-high mounds of snow, which extended on the bare land as far as the eye could see.

However, he caught a glimpse of a small silhouette sit on one of these piles not far away. Maybe this one here could tell him where he was? He approached, taking off his hat, and to his surprise, it was a little girl that was resting here all alone, turning his back to him. And this little girl was Fiona.

 **Chapter 7: Phantasm.**

She faced him when she heard his footsteps cracking in the snow, and greeted her cousin with a bright smile when she saw him rushing to her, spurting little spatters of snow at each step.

"Fiona?! What are you doing here?!"

She shrugged.

"I don't really know. I was sleeping in my bed, and I woke up here. My da' always tell me to not move from where I am when I am lost, and I never disobey my da'. And he is right, because you find me! But, Jamie, where are we? It's too soon for snow, isn't it? Do you think I walk in my sleep too? You know, I already had a funny dream last night..."

"What kind of dream?"

"I can't remember well. It was very warm and wet, and noisy. I think you were in it too. It's all I can reckon..."

Jamie did his best to conceal his astonishment to the last words of his cousin. So the Fiona he saw previously was the real one? Despite she melted almost before his eyes? He plunged his hand in his sporran. He may have a way to check…

"Fiona, is that old handkerchief yours?"

"No. But it's all torn and dirty! Do you want me to sew it back?"

"Och, don't worry about this!"

Jamie was not any wiser, but without further evidence, he chose to take this Fiona for real. The decision was all the easier to take when he fall upon her worried eyes, waiting for reassurance. He knelt before her, taking her wee hands in his and smiling cheerfully to her.

"Where we are, I don't know exactly. It's kinda… hard to explain." He scratched his head in embarrassment. "Let's say you're doing another dream, is that all alright to you?"

She nodded shyly.

"Aye… but… if it's a dream, it's as freezing as in reality!" she answered, rubbing her arms convulsively.

Jamie removed his cloak and put it on her tiny shoulders. She looked like a miniature cone-shaped tree, with only her two little feet protruding from the hem.

"What about you, Jamie? It's so cold here, look at your kilt, it is way too…"

"Too short? Don't worry about that!" he replied with a grin. "Now, why not tell me how is everyone going, while we search this place for a way back home?"

"Aye. Auntie Heather has three guests since yesterday. They are funny, with their metal clothes. Auntie Heather was a little frightened at first, and I was too, but they are very nice and since they can't get out for fear of scare the neighbours, they help her at home all the time..."

But Jamie was not listening anymore. Curious about these countless piles of snow, he had taken a closer look to the stone Fiona had chosen for a chair. It was of a strange shape, square and smooth, and his eyes widened when he brushed the snow on it with his sleeve.

He lifted his eyes to the small white mounds that surrounded them and now Jamie understood.

They were in a graveyard.

And on the tomb he had cleared from snow, were engraved words which made Jamie stood still, lost in thoughts.

Surprised by the sudden silence of his cousin, Fiona took his hand. Jamie held it tightly.

"Is this a tomb, Jamie? What is written on it? What's wrong?"

"It's written "Donald Ban MacCrimmon, piper of the MacLeod, dead the 16th February 1746 at Moy.""

He lowered his eyes.

"So it's the tomb of..."

"My father... Killed more surely by that damned MacLeod than by the jacobites..." he spat bitterly.

Surprised by his sharp tone, Fiona twisted his head, his bright, curious eyes meeting Jamie's ones.

"Jamie... There is something I want to ask you for long... Da' forbade me to tell anyone you were with us, especially if it was a "redcoat" or a MacLeod. Or else, it would be terrible for us all. I never disobeyed my da, but I still don't understand, why would it be so terrible to tell the truth to the MacLeod? We are their pipers for very very long, aren't we?" she asked in a small voice.

Jamie's face relaxed, and he sat on the tombstone, inviting Fiona to sit next to him. She did so and he put his arm around her shoulder, under the black cloak they were now sharing against the cold.

"How can I tell you... There are actually two kings to claim our land: a white one, and a red one. The red one had expelled the white one a long time ago, but the white one never gave up hope to return to our country, and so he did. My father had always wished to serve the white king, but he was a piper for the MacLeod, and the MacLeod were loyal to the red king..."

"So... your father, my uncle, was forced to serve the red king ?"

"Exactly. And he died miserably, for him, for a cause he loathed. So... I decided to replace him by joining the MacLaren... on the side he'd have chosen.

"But, it's the soldiers of the white king who killed him, don't they?"

"Yes, but it was the red king, and the MacLeod that pushed him to fight them. They couldn't know that... And still, it was my da's secret wish to follow the white king, and mine too. However, the white king lost the war, and turned out not to be a much better king in the end..."

"Not better than the red one?"

"No, not really..."

He shook his head with a bitter smile.

"So... that's why, today, you have to hide from the redcoats and the MacLeod too, haven't you?"

"Aye..."

They remained silent for a few seconds, then Jamie stood up, and drew his set of bagpipes from his sporran.

"Until now, I never had the chance to say goodbye to my da' properly. He had foretold his own death, you know, and he composed a special tune, so people would not forget his sacrifice so easily..."

"How did you...?" She pointed at his sporran, incredulously.

"Och that? Dinnae worry! We're in a dream, aren't we?" he answered cheerfully.

Thus he began to play, filling the cold air of the graveyard with a slow, harrowing melody. Fiona listened quietly. She did not remember well Jamie's father, and she did not really understand the war around her, but she was very fond of her cousin and the music he played soon filled her heart with deep melancholy. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes despite herself.

However, some cracking noise coming from the snowy tombs jolted her from her reverie. The snow was falling, revealing the steles beneath. Was it melting? She did not pay any more attention, until her eyes widened in fright when one, then two, then countless silvery hands, arms, torsos and heads began to get out of the tombs slowly, scraping the muddy earth above them.

Fiona wished she could have yelled, but her mouth was paralysed in terror. She turned to Jamie, gripping the hem of his kilt to get his attention. In vain. Jamie's eyes were closed, oblivious to what happened around him, totally absorbed in his playing.

Fiona forced herself to look around them once more. Now thousands of silver silhouettes were standing around them, forming the most singular audience. And indeed, they stayed unmoving, as if they waited the end of the tune they seemed to listen religiously.

Finally, Jamie's music came to an end, and it was his turn to be startled by the new crowd around him. They had full human appearance, now, except for their translucent silver skins and clothes. By a closer look, the young piper could tell they were probably soldiers, carrying pistols, claymores and targes. He brought a terrified Fiona closer to him, more than suspicious of the nature of these supernatural beings.

One of the silver soldiers advanced towards him, and asked him in a monotonous, deep voice:

"Who are you, who play for the dead?"

His lips were not moving at all, and it was difficult to tell if the voice was coming from him or if it was floating in the air like a spectre...

"I am James Robert McCrimmon, son of Donald Ban McCrimmon." Jamie answered, in the same tone. He was worried about Fiona, of course, but he had already met ghosts before, and he would not be so easily impressed.

"What have you done on the battlefield?"

"I fought the redcoats."

"Do you fight to the very end?"

"I did my best but the battle had been lost."

"So, why aren't you with us? Why aren't you like us?" the voice, this time, came from his right.

"I... I fled the battlefield with my laird."

"Why did not you fight to the end?"

"Why should I have done that?"

"You should have fought to the end!" the voice came from the left.

"Fought for your prince!" added the same voice, coming from behind.

"I did not see the point to die for a coward!"

"Traitor! Traitor! Why didn't you die with us on the moor?"

Jamie drew his dirk, as the voice seemed to come from everywhere at the same time.

"You will be like us!"

"You will join us!"

At these last words, the silver shade of the ghosts began to swarm, and thousands, millions of silver worms began to pour from them like water, revealing the horror hidden beneath. Their neat clothes were now grubby and muddy, some of them torn and tainted with blood. Their weapons, rusted and broken, barely protected their rotten and decayed bodies, whose bones displayed their whiteness here and there, when the limbs were not simply missing, and body fluids oozing from wounds which had probably caused the doom of those who carried them.

The silver worms flew altogether to Jamie, who, feeling the imminent danger, pushed her cousin aside.

"Run Fiona!"

"I can't leave you!"

"When I say you to run, you run!"

She obeyed, tears in her eyes, calling for help, but all she could find around the graveyard was other living-dead, riding in circle on the back of horses of the same condition, with a horn on their forehead. She turned back, short of breath, closing her eyes to the horrors around them, until she stumbled and fell into a pit in a yell, her first since the beginning of this nightmare.

« Fiona! »

Jamie's distant, anguished cry brought her back instantly to her senses. She stood on her tip-toes, stared outside, and realized despite the half-darkness around her that she had fallen into the tomb of Donald Ban! If the stone covering the tomb had moved, that meant he was surely out with the other corpses… He could even be the one who talked to them previously and now turned his back to her, with the top-half of his head gone, revealing the pale, pearly pink of his brain.

Fiona struggled to keep her eyes open, and pressed her little hands to her face to keep her mouth shut, despite the horrors which unfolded in front of her trembling tiny body. The worms were attacking Jamie's body, trying to cover it entirely. But the young piper fought tirelessly, casting away each wave that came to him. Altogether, the silver worms danced around his frame like a shoal of fish under the sea. It could have been a fantastic view, if, as time passed, half of Jamie's face was not becoming skull-like and silvery, with a round and empty eye-socket.

Dream or not, she had to find something. Her cousin's life depended on it.

Suddenly, a hand appeared before her eyes, holding a shining object. She bit her fist not to yell. The hand was barely visible in the tomb, and did not make anymore move. It seemed to wait for something. Fiona reached out timidly, and the fingers opened, revealing the nature of the object in its palm. It looked like a pistol, like the one her da' kept far from her tiny hands, but significantly different. She took it, trembling, and the hand returned slowly in the dark, raising an index in a silent shush. Holding the weapon tightly against her relieved heart, the well-mannered Fiona could only whisper a thank you to the fading frame.

She looked outside once again. One pistol for an army... it was not a big thing, but better than nothing. Perhaps it could distract them from Jamie, or even scare them away, even if she doubted the last hypothesis.

She held the gun in her two hands, and tried to aim the talkative living-dead. Her straight arms ached: it was so cold and heavy! She pressed what she thought was the trigger.

A terrible noise cracked in the air, and a formidable strength pushed her arms back, throwing off the balance of her frail body. She fell on her back, right into the vault.

The continuous humming of the elusive swarm stopped for a second. Nearly blinded by the thick cloud of silver worms, Jamie could only discern the brainy living-dead turning slowly, heading his steps to the vault of his father, where the shot seemed to come from.

"Fiona !"

Jamie ran, not paying any more attention to the silver worms that still crawled on his skin, crushing some of them under his feet in a disgusting noise. He jumped on the back of the monster, and stabbed its brain with his dirk. Blood and fluids of all sorts spurted from its brain, its face, like juice from a rotten fruit, and the worms on and around him seemed to flinch. Thus Jamie realised one thing: this living-dead should be the controller of all these elusive creatures. It did not stopped its advance to the vault, however, so, Jamie, exhausted and panic-stricken at the thought it could reach Fiona's hideout, stabbed and stabbed repeatedly, desperately, all he could hurt in the controller of the living-dead, grabbing its neck so tightly he would have surely strangled it to death if it was not already the case. The monster struggled with an incredible strength, but soon, Jamie realised that the limbs of his body which have been conquered by the worms were significantly stronger than the safe ones, and more than enough to resist a shock that could have broken his back when the living-dead threw him brutally on a tombstone nearby.

Ignoring the erratic flight of the silver beasties, Jamie, enraged, got up immediately. Despite its fresh wounds, the monster was still walking to Fiona's hideout. Having lost his dirk at the impact, without thinking, Jamie reached for the tombstone behind him, tore it out of the ground with both hands, and threw it to the monster with an inhuman yell. The stone crashed on the back of the living-dead, which staggered at the shock.

Jamie did not leave him time to recover. He rushed to the rotten corpse, and pinned it to the ground. Grabbing a sharp piece of the tombstone, he repeated his ferocious attacks, this time not stabbing but crushing literally the rock in his hands to the flesh under him, tainted it and himself with blood at each blow. The worms began to fly slower, then fell to the ground. But Jamie did not stop, not until, the only sound he could hear on the moor apart from his hits was the sound of his own hoarse breath.

In the darkness of the vault, Fiona came back to her senses. She hurried to the light outside, to be granted by the spectacle of living-dead and worms crumbling altogether to dust, complete with Jamie, standing the midst of the snow, his face and body tainted with blood and other indefinable fluids, his fevered eyes looking around in bewilderment. She was a little frightened, by his formidable appearance, but also... fascinated. And when Jamie suddenly collapsed on his knees, breathing heavily, she did not hesitate a second to haul herself out of the tomb and, stumbling, run to his side.

Jamie felt cold water on his forehead, as Fiona wiped it with her handkerchief, wet with fresh snow. His body seemed to have returned to his normal state. He stood up and looked around, Fiona at his side. The corpses were all bones now. As Jamie suspected, the controller was the only one who thought and moved by himself.

Leaving his cousin behind, he approached one of the pile of bones nearby. He crouched, and took a skull in his hand, examining it with a thoughtful look.

"I wonder what my da' think of all this. Maybe he is upset too, since I have betrayed his dream..."

Fiona began to walk towards him, and felt something falling from her bodice. She picked the object, and her eyes twinkled when she remembered.

"You know, I don't think he was with them."

She gave him the gun.

"So it really was you... Where did you get this?"

"In the vault."

Jamie considered the weapon for a few moments. He tried to shot with it, but it was empty, and this pistol was so bizarre in its construction he would not surely find any bullet to fit in it. He put it unceremoniously in his sporran.

Fiona put her hand on his sleeve.

"Your da', your jacobites fellows… You miss them very much, don't you?"

"Aye… and I won't forget them, but… at the same time, I feel something else… something unique and different, sleeping in my mind, that needs to be awoken."

"Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes... in a way."

"Is that why you seek this doctor you're talking about?"

He chuckled.

"Maybe."

He took her hand in his, and together, they left the graveyard, following a footpath spared by snow which had mysteriously eluded their previous exploring. When the sun disappeared far in the horizon, the silhouettes of the two youths disappeared on the moor, engulfed by the mist around them. Later, the tempest rose, and soon, snow and fog achieved to give their burial to the dead.


	8. Chapter 8: Hyperballad

Jamie followed the hard slope of the footpath, his only landmark in the mist that blinded him for hours. He hoped Fiona would continue to obey his da's advice and stay where she was. Why did she let go of his hand in such a moment? He called after her since hours, but his breath was more and more difficult, and the cold more and more biting. He did not stop however. Fiona may be wandering somewhere in the fog, and he may not be able to resume his walk if he indulged in his exhaustion.

However, he nearly forgot his anguish at the astonishing sight he was treated when the mist lifted at last.

Dizzy crests and deep valleys covered with snow stretched under his eyes endlessly and let little room for doubt.

He had, unwittingly, reached the top of a mountain.

 **Chapter 8: Hyperballad.**

He called once more after his cousin, but the only response he got was the echo of his own voice, sent back over and over between the mounts. The icy wind blew at his ears. Jamie wrapped himself tightly in the fur cape he found in his sporran. Fiona should be freezing with only his black cloak to protect her! He looked around thoroughly. This place was cold, but it allowed him an unrestricted view of all the area. Fiona could not have been very far, and her red hair would stand out perfectly in this snowy landscape. However, after a few minutes of meticulous exploring, she was still nowhere to be seen, and Jamie would have begun to fear for the worst if he had not noticed a cave, not far from where he stood. Could she have sheltered here? He clung to this hope as surely as he clung to the rocks on his way down from the summit, until he reached the entrance, bathed by sunlight. There, he proceeded carefully. Who knew what kind of beastie could be here? Whatever it could be, he sincerely hoped it would not find Fiona before him…

However, he smiled in relief when he looked at the bottom of the stone room. He had finally found Fiona, deeply asleep on a pile of fur. She was wearing a plaid on her shoulders instead of his black cloak, and Jamie wondered briefly where she could have found it, until he realized the pile of fur under her was _breathin_ _g_.

He turned around cautiously, and saw a large, three-fingered hand protruding from the mass of hair. He did not dare to look for more: he was now sure this thing was a living thing, a big, hairy living thing. And Fiona was quietly snoozing on its belly!

He approached her, holding his breath, and brushed gently some bangs on her face to wake her up. She blinked, and was ready to let a spectacular yawn escape from her mouth when her cousin put instantly his hand over it. She stared at him with wide, incredulous eyes.

Jamie did not elaborate further and took the little girl under his arm, keeping his hand on her lips. He was carrying her hastily to the entrance of the cave, despite her muffled protests, when a loud roar echoed behind him.

There was no time left to flee. Jamie plunged behind a rock next to the entrance of the cave, and waited, Fiona still struggling in his arms.

It did not take long before the inhabitant of the cave passed through Jamie's hideout, allowing the young piper to admire it in daylight. Its body had the shape of a pear, with hands and feet barely visible under the gray-brown fur that covered it skin from head to toe. But the most singular of its features was a strange, pyramidal helmet in which its head was concealed. Adorned with a twisted horn, it looked like the helmet was made of glass or crystal, but all Jamie could see through it was a sort of ball of light, hiding the face of the creature from sight. It turned its back to Jamie and went away, but it's only when the sound of its heavy step faded away that the highlander realized he had nearly forgotten his cousin and finally released his grip on her.

She wiped her bruised mouth indignantly.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do you realize where you were doing your little nap, you scatterbrain!"

"I did not know! I was sleeping in my bed and one more time I wake up with you! Is that a dream again?"

But before he could formulate an answer, a loud stomping forced them to lower their heads behind the rock.

"We can't stay here any longer! Come with me!"

She took the hand he handed her, and together, they ran as fast as they could towards the valley. On their way, they passed through a village which seemed deserted, although their heard the distant sound of a bell ringing. Did the inhabitants catch sight of the monsters and take shelter somewhere? Jamie and Fiona found the answer when they reached the church further down…

On their way down, Jamie could not help but notice the most curious church bell, which was a distinct building from the nave itself. It was a simple tower, half in ruin, formed by four pillars with no wall or roof, just a ladder, and a little wooden platform circling a rank of bells hanging from some beams on the cellar. Maybe an ancient watchtower, and probably the origin of the ringing they heard before.

Without paying attention of the sentry callings, Jamie hammered at the door of the church. It half-opened on a bunch of frightened and suspicious faces. As he had guessed, the villagers had all gathered here for safety.

"Please! Let us in! A monster is after us!"

"You mean the Big Grey Man? You've seen it?"

"Aye, an enormous beastie with fur everywhere! Please, let us in! Or help us to take it down!"

"There's no way to take it down. This monster wanders the mountain for months now. We come here each time it left its mountain."

Suddenly the sentry voice rose in the air."The Big Grey Man! It's coming this way! It's crossing the village!"

"What? It has never been this close before!"

Fiona turned to his cousin with anguished eyes.

"How did he find us?"

"Good question, you two. Why is he after you in the first place?"a villager asked in an inquisitive tone.

"We don't know. We have just arrived here!"

"Well, I will tell you, even if it's obvious for everyone here! You summoned him!" another man cried out, pointing his finger at his fur cape with suspicion.

"Are you mad?!"

"Yeah, you must be a wizard to stand this cold with that odd dress of yours," a third man said, leering at his legs.

"Och, you don't seem to mind that much, eh?" Jamie replied sharply.

The sentry spoke again.

"The Big Man's looking everywhere in the houses! It will be there soon!"

"We will never have time to flee!" a voice said from inward the church in a plaintive tone.

The villager who opened the door of the church in the first place turned to Jamie with a devious grin.

"I know what to do to gain time! Let's return him to his creature! Bind him!"

In a blink of an eye, the door opened wide and Jamie was surrounded by dozens of arms, restraining him until his hands were perfectly tied behind his back. He lost sight of Fiona, which worried him a lot more than a bunch of hysterical villagers, but his struggling at each of his attempts to look for her only gained him an angry punch on the back of his head. He passed out.

When he came back to his senses, his vision was blurry and slightly pitching, and he first believed it was a consequence of the shock he received on his head until he realized he felt no ground under his feet or the rest of his body. He looked above him and saw he was tied to a solid rope hanging from a beam at the top of the church bell, in full view of the monster if he was willing to run after him once more. He resented these villagers he could see flee to the valley far away. Not only for their twisted plan, but also because he did not have the slightest idea of what they could have done to Fiona…

As for the monster, Jamie could see from his high position that it had stopped in the village and seemed to be… dozing? He struggled with his bonds, and tried to swing from one side to the other of the tower, hoping he could at least reach the wooden platform and find something to wear out the ropes and free himself before it was…

…too late.

Jamie could only state in horror that the monster had chosen the precise moment where he woke up to do the same!

Jamie could not see the eyes of the creature under its helmet, but he guessed it must have sensed his presence, as it was now running on its short hairy legs right towards him with a ferocious roar. He swung more forcefully. He had to free himself before it reached the church bell!

But once again, it was hopeless.

Surrounded by the columns of the tower, the creature stopped a moment in front of the fur cape of Jamie that was left behind on the floor. It lifted its head, and seemed to notice the hanging boy over it.

Jamie was swinging desperately but could not touch any part of the wooden platform, even with his toe. And now, the monster was climbing one of the pillars.

He knew now that his movements would only delay the moment where the monster would grab the rope, or his leg, or whatever part of him he would be able to seize. He did not focus on a particular spot anymore, and instead was circling and jumping blindly, like some toy tied to a string that one pulled off to play with a cat.

The game, though, came to an end when his swinging flew him so high he accidentally hit head-first the nearest of the bells, which, by a domino effect, made its sisters ring at unison in a loud, metallic rumble.

Jamie winced as the ringing echoed endlessly in his ears, his bruised head was spinning once again, but fortunately, he was not alone.

The monster was staggering on its pillar, howling visibly in pain. It seemed its helmet was not protective against noise… It was slowly losing its grip, and tried to prevent it by catching a beam near Jamie, but it only broke under its weight, and the creature fell freely, shaking the church bell to its foundations when its formidable mass hit the ground. The bells soon followed the same way and crashed down in a more deafening echo.

Half-stunned by the noise and the debris fallen from the roof, Jamie first believed to be hallucinating when he heard a faint but familiar voice call his name. He focused on this voice, doing his best not to pass out, and found Fiona, his dirk in hand, climbing what remained of the ladder until she reached his level in the tower.

He aimed at her position, and launched himself into a last series of swings. He had to do it. If he could reach the platform where she stood, he could ask her to cut the rope and then rest a little, to ease the spinning in his head.

But the ropes, wore out by the friction of his swinging and the crumbling of the structure, chose that precise time to cut all by themselves, freeing his arms and plunging him to a certain death. Fiona yelled. He closed his eyes.

…and landed, if quite harshly, on something soft and furry. The arms of the Big Gray Man. Arms it purposefully held out to save his life. Its helmet was broken, probably in its terrible fall, but it did not seem hurt at all. So, through his blurry eyes, Jamie finally caught a glimpse of the monster's face. He smiled when he saw two round, twinkling blue eyes, looking at him with what he took for… concern? Where were the roaring? The rage? Jamie realized suddenly: he did not know what the monster intended to do in the first place!

The creature shifted, holding Jamie with one hand without showing the slightest sign of effort, and search its fur. He drew a little object from it, which he handed to Jamie. The young highlander took it: it was a wooden statue of the creature.

"You wanted to bring this to me all along? I should have guessed… but your roaring wasn't a great clue, you know."

He saw little bits of "crystal" still stranded in its fur. This helmet… Was it a protection? Or a trap? Was it in pain all this time? He removed carefully some of the shards with his fingertips.

"Did I break something precious? Or did I free you? Och, I wish you can talk… Anyway, you look so much better without it."

Truth was, he felt safe in the furry arms of the Big Gray Man, under its benevolent gaze. It reminded Jamie of… _him_. He even thought for a second to see his face on the furry body, instead of the creature's one. He put the new relic in his sporran and reached out, putting his hand on its cheek. He cradled it gently, which bring out a purr from the creature.

"Thank you… and sorry."

He drifted off.

Fiona descended the ladder as fast as her tiny legs could do. It may be a dream, but Fiona could not help but be as worried as she could have been in reality if something bad had happened to Jamie. And this time, her da' and his ma' were not here to help, she had to handle this all by herself!

Forgetting her own fear, she ran right to the creature's side, raising the hem of her dress, dirk in hand. But she stopped when she realized that the monster in fact, was… waiting for her?

She approached it shyly, meeting its curious eyes. What would the monster do with her cousin? Would it take him to its den to eat him? She looked at its face resolutely. There was only one thing to do for now: follow it, and wait for the possible outcomes.

So she did, and her hand did not tremble when she gripped a handful of fur of the creature and began to walk at its side, sinking slowly in the mist around them.


	9. Chapter 9: You've Been Flirting Again

He felt warmth on his face, and softness on his skin. Light was dancing through his eyelashes. His vision became clear, and a fireplace took form before him. He stood on an elbow and looked around him. He was resting on an old sofa, in a living-room which had known better days.

 **Chapter 9: You've been flirting again.**

"Jamie! You're awake!"

Fiona threw herself in his arms. He hugged her absently, unable, despite all his focus to find any clue which could be of help to figure their whereabouts. He surrendered finally and faced Fiona for a simpler method of investigation:

"How have we come here?"

"It's the Big Man who brought us!"

"What?!"

"We walked through mist for a while, but it's like he did know where he went, and when it lifted, I was at the door of this mansion with you, and he had disappeared! Yes, just like that."

"How did you do to carry me inside, then? And to set this fire?"

"I have been helped!"

She moved aside, and Jamie was introduced to the most curious host he had ever been welcomed by. Its body was of humanoid shape – female to be precise-, but seemed entirely made of wood. No features were to be seen on the face, and no clothes on the body. Only the gracious curves of the nervures and knots of the wood seemed to adorn its smooth "skin". It looked like a puppet, and in fact it may be one, as Jamie could see strings tied to its limbs, whose ends were disappearing in a sort of tight gutter in the ceiling.

"She put you on this sofa and she even started the fire in the fireplace! She seemed to do whatever she's told, you just have to ask! However, she doesn't talk so I don't know if she has a name. Maybe it is written somewhere? Can you read it Jamie?"

He took a closer look, but could not find anything, except a curve on the woodgrain of her arm who could form the letter "G".

"Is your name beginning by "g", err, miss?"

She did not answer, as if the question had no sense for her.

"Well, so... can we call you "G"?"

She nodded.

"All right, that settles all!" He patted her shoulder, a bit uneasy.

She stood still.

"Err...well." He scratched his head. "So, you obey to orders you are given, that's it?"

"Yes!" Fiona smiled brightly. "You ask, she does!"

A little more confident, Jamie faced the wooden doll once more. He felt weary and sore, and he surprised himself by the request that came naturally to his lips,.

"I'd be glad to have... a bath, if you don't mind."

She nodded, and left the room.

"Why a bath, Jamie? You didn't do that sort of things before!"

"I don't know myself, I just... feel I need it."

"But it's dangerous, isn't it?"

"I don't feel like so."

Her eyes widened when he began to undo the knot which closed his shirt.

"You are not going to disrobe on top of that? Your skin will rot!"

"I know it's strange but I feel it better like this."

She turned her back to him. Some minutes later, G reappeared, pushing the wheels of an elegant bathtub adorned with the sculpture of a reared unicorn. Fiona waited to hear the noise of splashing water before she dared to face his cousin again.

She shook her head in perplexity.

"Auntie Heather was right... You have changed since you came back from war. For instance, there's something I wonder for a long time... How can you be wandering around dressed like that?"

She held his short kilt before her eyes.

"You don't like?" He answered, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Don't you think it's very... revealing, even for a lad? I can't help but think about it..."

He chuckled, a little uneasy, and pillowed his head under his arms

"I find them comfortable. And they kinda... help me to focus. What's so embarrassing? Are my knees so ugly?" He grinned, and crossed his legs unceremoniously at the ledge of the bathtub, wriggling his toes at the end of the process.

"It's not what... Och, forget it!"

She pouted, and blushed ferociously as Jamie stood up suddenly. She twisted her head hastily and saw G pass through her with a towel. Fiona decided it was a perfect opportunity for a change of subject.

"She is beautiful, don't you think? Like a real-size doll! I wish I could make her dresses..."

"Speaking of clothes, where did you get that shawl of you? I saw you sleep in it back in the cave…"

"I took this to keep me warm before I go to bed. I combed my hair too because you know... These dreams I'm supposed to make with you… they look very real to me, look what I found on my cover when I woke up after the graveyard..."

Now fully dressed, Jamie came to her side. Fiona turned to face him, and gave him his black cloak back, neatly washed and folded.

Too puzzled to talk, Jamie took it with a nod. All trace of grin had vanished from his face. In fact, he had not the slightest idea of why Fiona was now appearing at each of his travels. Would she be of help to find the doctor in one way or another?

Fiona spoke again:

"To be honest, these dreams look like more nightmares to me, but I did like to see you each time I come. Even if you are probably not the real Jamie…" She lowered her head.

He put his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm real, Fiona, you'd better not think too much about all that, okay?"

"I'm not so sure…" She blushed again. "But if you are the real Jamie, at least I'd tell auntie Heather that you are alright, even if I'm not sure she'll believe me. She's worried about you, you know…"

"I know… But this journey is very important for me."

"So important you are ready to stroll half-naked for it!" She grinned brightly.

He flushed a little, pulling the hem of his kilt self-consciously.

"So Fiona, what do you think about a bit of exploring, hmm?"

Fiona nodded, enjoying her unexpected little triumph.

Their wandering led them through numerous rooms which were in a similar state than the one they left: dark, gloomy, with dust accumulating on broken furniture here and there. G seemed to be the only inhabitant of the mansion, but once not the only one of her kind, as Jamie and Fiona caught a glimpse of some other wooden dummies similar to her, but lifeless and without strings anymore, sometimes stopped in their current activities. However, despite a minutely inspection, they could not still figure how G's strings worked to make her move and understand whatever she was said.

All pointed out that this manor had been left hastily by its occupiers a long time ago, and for a reason they couldn't elaborate. Maybe it was linked to the incongruous presence of peaks of ice in every room they entered, covering every walls, floors and cellars and most furniture like frozen lace.

When they returned to their starting point, they noticed the fire had died in the hearth. They deduced by a closer look that the fire had melted the ice around it, causing its end… and revealing a hidden stone door, blocked by a bar of the same material, at the bottom of the fireplace.

"You don't want to go in there, do you?"

"Listen, it's certainly not only because our furry friend cared about us that we are here. If there's any chance to find the Doctor or a clue of his whereabouts, I have to explore this to know it. You can stay with G, if you want."

He lifted the heavy bar.

"Och, I don't want to leave you alone. Can she come with us instead?" She gripped her hand.

Jamie sighed.

"If that's what she wants…"

She nodded, which settled the issue. Jamie pushed the door cautiously and entered first. It did not take long however, before she caught him up, holding G's hand, and both youths startled at the same time at the extraordinary sight hidden behind the door in the fireplace.

They were now out of the manor, in a garden enclosed by walls of glass and crystal that climbed until they joined in a vault high above them, like in a greenhouse. But they were no visible plants or flowers around them, only snow, and great ice sculptures of humans and animal of all sorts, surrounding a unique frozen path, leading to the opposite side of the door they discovered. Stalactites of frozen water hung from the vault, like an arc of diamonds above their heads. The view was breathtaking.

Out of words, Fiona stepped closer to his cousin. Both walked quietly, silenced by the beauties around them, until they found, at the end of the path, a most intriguing monument.

It was a statue of ten feet high, no doubt the hugest of the garden, depicting a sort of knight whose armour was inspired by reptilian features, to the point that, under the waist, the legs were definitely replaced by a snake tail. The knight seemed to look at them with threatening eyes, as if it defied Jamie and Fiona to come closer to the strange device it was protecting in his coils.

Accepting the silent challenge, Jamie tore his gaze from the sinister sculpture and took a closer look to the said device. It was a great wheel of stone, similar to a sundial, but divided in only four sections, each of them depicting one of the four seasons in a year. A golden arrow on top pointed the section of winter. Jamie tried to move the wheel, but it was concealed under a thick layer of ice.

Fiona shivered. She did not dare to come closer of this horrible statue, but she did not want to be left behind under these frightful eyes. A call from his cousin decided her to come to his side.

"What do you think of this, Fiona?"

"I don't know. It may be just another strange decoration."

"That's what I'm wondering… It doesn't hurt to give a try, don't you think?"

With these words, he winked, and began to stab the ice blocking the machine.

Fiona looked around her. G stood perfectly still behind them. However, it seemed to Fiona it was not the case of the knight snake, as she would have sworn its hands just moved slightly. She shook her head. She may be tired from all these sleepless nights, after all.

"All right, I think it will move now! What do you want to choose, Fiona?" Jamie said, a hand on the device.

"Spring will be good for me." she answered with a smile.

They moved the heavy wheel, and looked at the garden behind them.

At first, no change seemed to occur at all, and they were already shrugging their shoulders when, some seconds later, Jamie and Fiona felt drops of water pouring on them. The snow was melting, as well as the ice sculptures. It was a little sad for these ones, of course, but at least, they would be rid of the hideous one behind, and the first crocus piercing timidly the earth at their feet were as much promises of new splendors to come.

Jamie was wondering who built this device in the first place and for what purpose. Amidst those miracles, G stood perfectly still. She was herself a complete mystery, and Jamie asked to himself how many amazing things would cross his way to the Doctor, when a hissing noise cut his train of thoughts and made him look back at its source.

He just had time to push Fiona aside when the great statue of the snake knight breathed a beam of ice right towards them.

Fiona yelled.

The snake knight moved slowly on its tail, now completely uncurled, and faced Jamie from all his high. The highlander tried to run, but his legs refused to obey. He felt so cold suddenly… He lowered his eyes, and realized to his horror that the beam had totally frozen the lower half of its body!

He did his best to twist his head and looked for Fiona. She was hiding herself behind the wooden frame of G, who stood as still as ever, totally oblivious of the monster which was now slowly crawling towards them.

"G! What are you doing? Take Fiona back inside!" Jamie shouted anxiously.

G took Fiona's hand, and began to walk peacefully, as if nothing was happening...

"HURRY, FOR LORD'S SAKE!"

G began to run. Dragged along, her feet barely touching the ground, Fiona looked behind her shoulder.

"What about you, Jamie?!" she cried. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, and started to freeze as well, forming pearls running down her cheeks. Out of patience, Jamie punched the ground.

"Don't worry Fiona, now RUN! It's coming to you!"

G took Fiona in her arms and ran at a nearly inhuman speed. Even with this, they barely escaped another beam from the knight, and closed the door behind them just in time.

The knight began to bang at the door on a slow, but regular basis with his powerful tail and did not seem willing to move. Jamie observed him from the corner of his eyes, while trying to dislodge his stuck legs from their prison of ice with his dirk. The jade of his scales appeared through the layer of ice on its skin. Ice which did not melt anymore. He looked at the wheel. It was set on winter again.

Its moves were slow, but strong, and it was clever enough to set the device. This was a very dangerous adversary. He considered the other sculptures in the garden, and tried not to think at what would happen if the monster changed its mind and finished its work with him. Still, Jamie wondered why it did not do so here and now, instead of persisting in its attempts to break the door, even if these attempts would be successful all too soon, as Jamie could see little cracks forming around the hinges…

Then occurred another strange phenomenon. Taking advantage of the slowness of his moves, G half-opened the stone door between two hits and after a quick roll, walked casually towards him, her strings trailing behind her from under the passage. How the monster did not notice her?

He was so cold it made him difficult to concentrate… At least, Fiona was in a warm place. Warm… Was the creature sensitive to warmth? That would explain a lot: he did not notice G, even when she moved, because she was made of wood, nor him, because he was frozen. That made Fiona the only target the knight could yet detect! He could unfroze his own legs, and draw the monster to him of course, but if he died doing so, what would become of Fiona after?

He considered his options at hand. At least, he could lift his frozen legs from the ground and crawl, even if a thick layer of ice still covered them. But he would not be fast enough in his state to pass the door safely like G did before. He needed a diversion, and after a quick glance on his surroundings, found what could be a potential one.

The machine. It could draw the monster away if it was used properly. He caught sight of G, who was now at his side, waiting for orders, and an idea came to his mind, an idea he was not very fond of, but which was his only one here and now.

"Listen carefully, G. I will return to the door, while you go to the wheel. When I'll reach it, you will set it on "summer", and go back to us as fast as you can, right?"

She nodded.

They split up, each of them heading for their own goal. Jamie crawled cautiously, gaining inch after inch despite the weight of his useless legs. He stopped far enough from the door to not be hit accidentally by the snake tail, but close enough to rush when G would activate the wheel. All this time, the snake knight did not notice him and carried on its slow abuse on the stone door.

He looked behind his shoulder, and saw G turn the wheel composedly.

A blast of hot air filled the atmosphere almost instantly. The snake knight left its position and immediately rushed in the opposite direction of the door, right towards the device. Jamie felt wetness on his legs, and stumbled to the door.

"Open, Fiona! It's me!"

He heard Fiona struggle with the heavy stone bar, until it felt on the ground. The door opened, and Jamie jumped inside with all the strength of his still numb legs. Fiona helped him to stand up, and he was already grabbing the bar when she shook the hem of his fur cape anxiously.

"What about, G? We can't lock the door now!"

Jamie risked a glance outside. G was heading towards them, followed closely by the snake knight. It had set the device back to winter, and even completely jammed the wheel in a thick ice block, probably with its breath. Which meant they were the only targets remaining... G's pace seemed more unsteady than earlier, but she managed to reach the two humans safely. Fiona jumped in her arms as Jamie quickly locked the door with the stone bar again and moved some furniture to secure the way. The banging started once more.

"G, I'm glad you're alive!"

"Fiona, she's not alive, and she risked less than us outside!"

"What do you mean?"

"This thing perceives only warm things. That's why it's after us, and that's why it's jamming the door as we talk..."

He contemplated his pile of broken chairs and worm-eaten sideboards.

"It won't be long before he managed to pass through this, but it will give us time to prepare our counter-attack!"

He glanced at the lukewarm water of the bathtub nearby, rubbing his chin until he heard Fiona's voice behind his back:

"What will we do, Jamie?"

He granted her with a mischievous smile.

"Well... How about a bath?"

"What?!"

"G, do you still have boiling water somewhere".

She nodded.

"A lot ?"

She nodded.

"Bring it here, quick!"

She disappeared.

"Jamie, do you really think it is time..."

"...time to set a trap, yes!"

G came back a few minutes later with a basin so large her extended arms could barely hold the handles. She was stumbling at each step, probably because of the weight of the steaming water inside, but stood firm.

"Good work, G! Now, I'd like you to help me to put this basin on the lintel of the fireplace, understood?"

She nodded.

The bangs of the snake knight outside seemed stronger by the minute as they hoisted the basin. Jamie thought he heard some cracking noises coming from G, but it could be the stone bar as well, giving way to the incessant blows.

"At this rate, the door won't hold long, the water won't have time to cool down... Good! Now Fiona, up on the lintel with us!"

She obeyed, and let herself hauled up by her cousin, more perplexed than ever.

Less than a minute later, the stone bar broke in half, and the door fell heavily, lifting dust and little debris when it hit the ground. The pile of furniture was shoved aside in an instant. Fiona yelped, clinging to Jamie. G stood still.

The shadow of the monster moved forward under their eyes, the vapour of its icy breath appeared, followed by the top of its reptilian, armoured head, which twisted, and rose slowly to its warm preys.

Jamie gripped a handle of the basin.

"NOW!"

...and under the dumbfounded gaze of Fiona, with the assistance of G, tipped up the basin, letting the boiling water flow right on their pursuer.

Jamie took Fiona in his arms and snuggled her head tightly against his chest. She did not want to see the ice of its body dissolve in water with fumaroles, its scales of jade falling apart like pearls of a broken necklace, its face deformed both by pain and melting. Its horrid, piercing cry of agony was far enough to endure. G stood perfectly still, even though a little wobbly.

Finally, the cry faded with a hissing whisper, and when Jamie opened his arms, all that Fiona could see now was a puddle of water. The snake tail, softening slowly next to it, was all that remained of their once terrifying nemesis.

They climbed down cautiously. Jamie noticed something shining in the puddle. He reached out, and discovered in his damp fingers a little phial, filled of a silver liquid.

"What is it, Jamie? Was it in the monster?" Fiona asked, perplexed.

Jamie opened the little bottle, and approached his nose of its contents. He dropped the phial almost instantly.

"Och, now I know what Hell must smell!"

"What can it be? Poison?"

"I don't know, but stinking or not I'll take it anyway."

Fortunately, the bottle did not break in its fall, and only a few of the strange liquid had poured on the wet floor. Jamie recorked it carefully and was already putting it in his sporran when he heard a cracking noise behind his back. He turned, and saw G collapsed on the floor, with a horrified Fiona at her side, holding her arm, _and only her arm_ in her trembling fingers.

"Jamie! It's G. I think she is... broken..."

She was on the verge to cry. Jamie knelt at the inanimate wooden doll. Sap poured from where her limbs were missing, and multiples splits were visible all over her body. Like wood which burst under bitter cold _._ Jamie understood: it must have happened when she went out to assist him, enduring sudden warmth, shortly followed by the exact opposite...

"What happened here, Jamie? Who has done all this?" Fiona was crying for good, now, releasing all the tension accumulated in her frail body.

"I have no idea... I wish she could talk to tell us." He glanced at the inanimate form of G. "Anyway, the sooner we leave this place, the better it will be..."

"Are we going to leave her like this?" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Fiona, she did not make a move to protect you when you were endangered unless she was told to do so. She is nothing but a mere dummy."

"She did not choose to be born like this. And still… it's sad to see her bleed."

Jamie did not answer, considering G, still lying in perfect silence, and seek out for a tool box.

The next morning, they were ready to leave this strange place for good. At least, it was less gloomy now, with the flowers adorning the garden, around the wheel. G seemed brighter as well, even with her replaced limbs and patched up cracks. Still, the sky was heavy with clouds, and the two youths needed to hurry.

"Come with us, G, it would be better to stay here all alone." Fiona said, taking her hand in her owns.

G shook her head, and pointed the strings at her limbs.

"I think she meant these allow her to "live", but prevent her to wander outside as well," Jamie told Fiona patiently, putting his arm around her shoulder and taking her away while she looked at her wooden friend with regret, waving at her warmly.

However, after a few steps, Jamie turned to G, who was still standing at the doorstep.

"And, G..."

She waited for command.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" he said gently, while the mist slowly fell upon them.

She nodded.


	10. Chapter 10: I Want You

"I'll have to get to a better position."

Jamie twisted his head briskly towards the voice. But no one was to be seen.

"Relax, Relax. More haste, more waste. Pleasure is beautiful."

Another voice, coming from nowhere. Was he definitely going mad?

"Oh, dear. Oh, I'm dizzy! Oh, I'm dizzy."

How things could have gone so wrong? He and Fiona were in a safe place yet, when the mist lifted.

"Jamie was magnificent. But then I knew he would be."

They had recognized the whereabouts of Borreraig. For once, Fiona should have been safe, one can hope.

"Could you call the ladies off?"

And then, this thick, black fog had fallen upon them, and they found themselves separated once more.

"You and I, we're finished."

Why could he never keep her at his side? He could almost say it was the story of his life.

"Remind me to give you a lesson in tying knots sometime."

And now he was alone again, wandering in a thick black fog, harassed by these twisted illusions, praying for Fiona to have found her way home safely...

 **Chapter 10: I want you.**

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a beam of light piercing the fog around him, followed by a faint voice, calling for help. He waited several minutes, all senses on alert.

"Look at the size of that thing!"

The beam of light shone once more through the mist, and a big, round, metallic object appeared before Jamie's eyes, rolling right in his direction. This is where he realised the object was a spherical cage, made of golden bars.

"Gay and cheerful."

Unfazed by this mysterious scenery, Jamie intercepted the ball, and much to his surprise, found Fiona inside, looking at him with terrified eyes through the bars.

"Fiona! How did you get in there?"

"I don't know! I have just woken up in that thing!"

This unusual prison could have allowed Fiona to move rather freely by rolling it, if it wasn't bound by a chain of the same metal. Jamie grabbed it, wondering what or who could be at the other end.

He soon found the answer, when he heard a voice he knew all too well to be reassured:

"Lassies… always needing to be protected, comforted… so sure to be irresistible! Well, I admit however that protect them is a good way to feel important… or hide what you really are..."

The black mist lifted suddenly, and Jamie discovered that the voice came from a single man, who walked casually towards him. His features were concealed under an elegant feathered mask, and he was wearing a sort of very tight doublet with matching breeches, made in a fabric he could not identify. Maybe leather? The end of the chain tied to Fiona's cage was hanging at a collar at his neck.

"Who are you?" Jamie asked, more and more unease by the strange feeling of belonging emanating from the familiar walk and silhouette of the man.

He removed his mask. And Jamie's eyes widened when he saw, powdered and adorned with a _mouche_ on the left cheek, his own face, like a reflection in a twisted mirror.

"So, don't you recognise yourself? I am you, your shameful, inner you."

Jamie's hand tightened on his dirk, and let his natural bravado conceal his growing anguish.

"It's a nice trick, you had, lad, but an imperfect one. You may look like me on the outside, but inside, you are all wrong! I would give my life to protect a lassie!"

The double chuckled.

"Aye… but you'd never really give your heart to one, would you? Not even for that pain in the neck you're dragging with you all along!"

He pulled brutally on the chain, dragging the cage to him with a yelp from Fiona when the boulder jerked in response.

"Stop this!"

"Fine. I am tired to pretend I care for lassies..."

He detached the chain from Fiona's cage, and kicked brutally the golden boulder towards Jamie. The young highlander rushed and caught it with his arms, throwing a furious glare at his double as he tried – in vain - to break the golden cage while reassuring Fiona, who afraid and helpless, was whining to no end. But soon, her weeping was cut by the unctuous, melodious voice of his double.

"...Aye... why care for lassies? Our precious Doctor is so much more important to care, agree?"

Jamie jumped on his feet, leaving Fiona behind him.

"What do you know about him? Is it you who trapped him? Like Fiona?"

"The Doctor? Trapped?" he laughed. "Och, if only I could have done so... Isn't this another excuse for the real reason of your quest? For abandoning your jacobite fellows? That so charming Bonnie Prince, that poor Alexander... These MacLaren are all well-buildt lads, don't you think? Well, I admit this Doctor is remarkably handsome in his way... "

"Stop it!" Jamie shouted, beginning to move forward his double in a threatening manner.

"And who knows? Maybe he would have a thing for your soft hands and face... maybe he would take you out of all this rejection, give you what you're waiting for so long... unless... unless, one more time, he would leave you behind on the moor, out of disgust, or because he judges he has played enough with these queer feelings of yours..."

"Stop it!" Jamie shouted louder, drawing his dirk.

"Poor Jamie, always needing to be the cute little pet of somebody… but this cute little pet, who will take care of him in return of all he gives ? Jamie's crying, since he can't find the one who will accept the offering of his twisted heart!"

"Enough! You are my enemy!" Jamie yelled, for good now, as he was rushing straight to his nemesis out of anger and infuriation.

"I am you. Just you."

He snapped his fingers, and arched his back. Earth trembled, and Jamie's legs collapsed, stopping short his impetuous charge. Much to his surprise, the young highlander saw the garments of his doppelganger flew from his body to disappear in the ground, like thick water absorbed by the grass of the moor, leaving so little to imagination that he literally embarrassed himself. His double then took the now free chain at his neck and whipped the ground. The metallic fabric sank in it, unwinding from the collar at his neck, like the string of a fishing rod. After a few seconds, the other Jamie grabbed the chain firmly, and pulled it forcefully from the ground.

The sky covered suddenly in thick, black clouds, moving so fast that Jamie could see them rotating clockwise to the naked eye, spiralling around the area until they reached the ground, forming an impenetrable dome, whose he and his double were the epicentre. Jamie ran to Fiona's cage immediately, but found himself separated from his cousin's prison by the wall of dark mist, which proved to be as solid and hard as if it was made of solid stone. He turned back and realizes the silver chain had gone through a fruitful fishing.

In front of him, stood what looked like a giant lizard whose stiff black scales shone like razor's blades all over its body. On its front, a twisted horn jutted out provocatively, and at its neck, a collar from which was hanging a sort of ceramic plate, and the chain his double had sunk in the earth previously.

The latter was lying casually on the back of the creature, twirling the chain between his fingers, and smiling deviously.

"Look at the size of your true self, Jamie! It's really a big power you have, don't you think?"

"My true self? Ah! I knew you were nothing more than a demon in disguise."

"You made me like this." his double snapped, his face suddenly stern.

The lizard roared, and plunged its horn in the ground. It turned red, and Jamie, hearing a hissing noise behind his back, turned and saw gigantic boulders falling from the dark sky. He flung into cover and rolled, just in time to avoid the monstrous projectiles crashing loudly at only a few inches from him.

"You and I have a fancy for ripe fruits, right?"

Jamie lifted his eyes at his double, who was grinning in delight. Behind him, the smoking rocks had burnt the grass of the moor. Infuriated, he ran once more, dirk in hand, to his mocking self, but only to be scratched by one of the creature's clawed paw.

"Oh, sorry! I like to wear nice things when it came from a beloved one. But of course, you know what I'm talking about..." He eyed his torn shirt greedily and winked. "Now, let's see if our nice legs will run long from the truth."

The horn of the monster sank in once more, and new boulders fell from the sky, although they were indeed summoned from the bowels of the earth. Jamie ran desperately, evading at each step the incandescent rocks crashing right behind his heels. His chest was burning from the effort, from the wound he received, and the stifling heat surrounding it, as rocks burned the grass of the moor, filling the air with blazing smoke. It would be a matter of minutes before he succumbed to exhaustion. He had to find an issue here and now. But how? He could not stay away from the monster, as it made him a target for its boulder attacks. He could neither get closer, or else, its claws would tear him to pieces. Unless... he noticed that each time the lizard summoned its burning rocks, he had to lower its head to plunge its horn in the ground. Surely it should be a lot more difficult to defend itself like this... Out of breath, Jamie hid himself behind a smoking rock, and waited for the right moment.

"Jamie? Where are you, sweet chap? Are you enjoying yourself without me? Come out and play!" his double called with a twisted fervor.

Jamie risked a glance from behind his hideout. His double gestured at his mount, and according to what he planned, the lizard lowered its head once again.

The horn sank in, and just when the first boulder was going to crash on his shelter, Jamie rushed to the beast, his dirk high in his hand, ready to strike a decisive blow by aiming its neck.

Surprised by this sudden boldness, Jamie's double pulled at his chain, trying to shift his mount to a less vulnerable stance. Jamie jumped, and clung to the horn of the monster right when it raised its head.

The lizard roared and reared, shaking his head frenetically to cast this intruder away. The twisted appendix was not cold and rigid like Jamie would have imagined, but warm and pulsating in his hands. He had to be quick: sooner or later, its terrible claws could find their way to his flesh once more. So, going for broke, Jamie wrapped his legs around the monster's muzzle, gripped its horn firmly, and cut it off at one blow of his dirk.

Instantly a thick, white blood spurted from the fresh wound, as the monster bucked and cried in agony. Blinded by the sticky fluid, Jamie lost his grip almost immediately and fell on the ground roughly. Wiping his eyes, he saw the monster throw his double from its back in a last jolt, and collapse, the barren earth trembling when its tremendous mass hit the ground at last.

Immediately, the scales of the creature shivered, and its skin and bones began to literally liquefy themselves, melting in the ground like muddy water. Jamie took a quick glance at his double and understood: he was bringing its essence back on him, recreating the outfit that covered his body before their fight. Soon, nothing remained of the great lizard, apart from the burnt ground, and, curiously, the debris of the plate it was wearing at its neck.

Jamie advanced resolutely, dirk in hand, towards his double. Prostrate, the latter did not even seem to notice his presence, until Jamie grabbed a fistful of his hair, forcing his nemesis to look at him...

However, instead of the hateful or mocking gaze he expected, the eyes Jamie met were filled with tears.

"And now, what will you do, Jamie? Look what your blindness to truth does to yourself! Do you think the Doctor would fancy you right now?"

The voice of his double was no more than a murmur, but it was enough for Jamie to release his grip and sheathed his weapon. He shook his head in dismay, and finally, held out his hand to his double.

"Stand up!"

Without a word, the double seized the hand and got on his feet. Jamie sighed deeply.

"Listen, I don't know who you are, if you're my true self, a beastie in disguise or whatever, and I can tell you one thing: I don't give a damn."

"Why?"

"Because whatever I may be, I will serve the Doctor until my last breath."

Jamie's double chuckled lightly. "Cinderella too took a twisted way to get her prince charming."

Before Jamie could answer, he stepped back, and disappeared in a cloud of black mist.

For a moment, the young highlander stood helpless, then, his eyes fell on the debris at his feet, and he deliberately focused his mind on a more practical subject.

From what he could tell by the debris, it was a most ordinary plate, one of those that could be found in the home of well-off Englishmen. He was getting tired of the nonsense of these clues, and what could he do now, with one of these in this state?

"Too bad it's broken, it seems to be a nice thing."

Jamie yelped in surprise, at the voice of Fiona, who was standing behind him, twirling her fingers in embarrassment. He quickly put the pieces of dish in his sporran, as if he was caught in some shameful activity.

"How did you get out of this cage?" Jamie asked, snappier in his tone than he intended to.

"She simply... disappeared, at the same time as the dark clouds. I'm sorry if I frightened you, I called, but you looked so absorbed, and... But... Jamie! You are wounded!"

Unable to pay any more attention to his cousin's babbling, Jamie had already knelt at a stream nearby, and removed his torn shirt. Fortunately, the scratch on his chest was not very deep. Still, the young highlander was now plunging his head and torso in the cool water compulsively, rubbing his face until it ached, removing at each dive more of the both fluids soiling his skin, red and white essences melting together as they flew on the current.

Lost in his thoughts, he got up and retied the front tails of his shirt together. It had already dried, intact and clean again. But he could not care less of this new prodigy.

"Well, Fiona, your home is not far from here, I think you can go home all by yourself, can't you?" he uttered sheepishly.

Fiona shook her head, and held his hand tightly.

"Jamie... What happened when you were alone with him? The things he said... I didn't get them."

"I think it's better for us both." he replied bitterly.

He went off of her grip without crossing her concerned gaze, and the last thing she saw of him was his back, as he sank slowly, head down, in the white mist thickening around him.


	11. Chapter 11: A Light In The Black

Like the curtains of a stage, the mist lifted on a starry night, shining softly on the secluded clearing of a forest Jamie could not recognize. The sea of stars was a soothing view for the young highlander, especially after all these trials he came through, and he stayed here for some time, sat on a rock nearby, watching the sky like he did back home, longing for something his heart could not define.

 **Chapter 11: a light in the black.**

A rustle in a bush nearby put an end to his daydreaming. All senses in alert and dirk in hand, Jamie advanced cautiously, determined not to let himself be caught off guard by some man, beastie... or whatever else it may be.

The bushes seemed to almost move by themselves, as Jamie sank in the depths of the woods. It was much darker than in the clearing, but in fact, it did not really matter, as Jamie could see a faint glimmer, guiding him through the trees and copses.

It was nonetheless a surprise for the young highlander when he discovered, reflecting in a nearby pond, the source of this light ahead.

The light was coming from the coat of what Jamie thought to be some sort of stag, but he could not be so sure, as the creature fled instantly when he tried to approach it. Jamie followed it easily however, thank to its luminous hair. It was a miracle this animal had not yet been hunt down and shot.

Even the beastie itself did not seem to flee seriously. It looked like he was playing with the piper's curiosity, jumping further each time he was near to reach it, but letting him to get closer each time he caught up with it. Close enough for Jamie to realize it was not a stag he was chasing, but a unicorn, perfectly similar to the one he saw in this book back in the underwater cave. This was getting more and more interesting.

This little game led them through all the forest. While Jamie brushed aside the leaves of trees and bushes, the gracious unicorn leaped and ran without emitting a single noise, without disturbing a single leave or blade of grass, and Jamie began to believe he was the plaything of some phantasmagoria when they reached the entrance of a cave, glowing in the same way than the unicorn before him.

The animal stopped there, and this time, it did not fled when Jamie came so close he just had to reach to touch it. In fact, it did not even seem to pay any more attention to him. When Jamie's fingers met the luminous hair of the unicorn, it... _unknot_ itself instantly like a ball of wool, until it disappeared completely. Jamie gasped. It was not of fur this animal was made, nor even flesh and bones, but _threads_ , thin and luminous, which disappeared in the ground of the cave, like a myriad of tiny snakes.

Jamie looked at the glowing entrance. Did that creature intended to bring him here in the first place? Anyway, he had learnt to take anything unusual in his journey as such proofs that he was on the right track to find the Doctor, so it was with confidence in his heart that he took a step forward, and left the shining stars behind him to the mysterious glimmer of the cave.

Jamie realized, after some meters through the descending tunnel, that the cave was in fact a mine, maybe a coal mine, even if it was difficult to tell, as all tools and installations of the miners were entirely covered by a thin layer of luminous threads, like most of the rock walls. When Jamie tried to draw an old lantern from its glowing coating, the threads stretched and stuck to his fingers, and Jamie wondered about the nature of this matter, more organic than man-woven, in his hand.

The walls were more and more covered with the glimmering substance as he progressed deeper in the mine, and soon, he could see like in broad daylight, obviating the necessity of any lamp. He finally discovered a first room, with stone walls in a similar state as the tunnel he came from, and a huge, oval-shaped ball of glowing threads which was hanging like a cocoon from the ceiling in its centre.

Jamie reached over its surface. It was the same strange matter which covered the walls and the tools of the miners. However, he jumped when the ball, instead of disappearing or sticking to his hand, began to wriggle, as if it reacted to the contact of his fingers.

Jamie stepped back. He could hear a faint humming coming from the writhing ball of threads. But was this plaintive humming coming from the threads themselves, or from something inside? Could it indeed be a cocoon? What could be trapped here? Jamie cut off theses questions as well as the surface of the ball with his dirk.

Two bare tiny feet first appeared at the top. Jamie shivered: a human was trapped there! And a bairn on top of that! However, his biggest surprise did not come until he cautiously glided the blade of his weapon along the threads, and freed its captive who fell roughly on the stone floor.

"Fiona?!"

"Jamie…" her cousin whispered, standing with difficulty on an elbow as she tried to recover.

Jamie knelt at her side, and held out his hand to help her.

"What are you doing, here, Fiona? Och, let me guess, you have no idea, right?"

She shook her head in embarrassment.

"Well, nothing can be done about that, eh?" he said with a smile, suddenly all too conscious of his coldness to her these last days. "And anyway, it would be funnier to discover what caused all this by ourselves, don't you think?"

He took a glance behind the ripped open cocoon, where the tunnel continued its descent.

"I wonder what could be hiding here…"

He felt something pull at the hem of his kilt. It was Fiona, gripping the piece of wool firmly.

"Oh, please Jamie, could not we just get out of here this time?" Fiona pleaded with imploring eyes.

Jamie scratched his head with embarrassment. He was itching to explore the depths of this mine, where he could find some important clue, maybe the Doctor himself. Maybe he was trapped too, in a cocoon of light? He shook his head nervously. Fiona's well-being was more important than his daydreaming.

Reluctantly, he nodded to her cousin, took her hand, and both began to climb back to the surface. After some minutes in the tunnel, Jamie first thought he must have gone deeper than he believed, for they could not see the sky yet. However, the answer he found when they finally reached the entrance was far simpler and far more worrying: if the sky was invisible, it was due to the thick layer of threads which was now blocking the path to the outside.

Jamie tried to rip the glowing wall with his dirk, like he did with the cocoon before, but the threads seemed to recreate themselves as soon as he cut them. He gave up when the net of threads began to wrap around his dagger as well. Fiona clung to him as he stepped back.

"Are we trapped here?"

Jamie sheathed his dagger.

"No! Did you forget? There's still the other end of the tunnel!" he answered with a grin, which he did not really force to conceal his worry to her cousin…

She looked behind her shoulder her wide, anguished eyes reflecting the light of the threads around them.

"Cheer up, Fiona!" he said, kneeling before her and tapping her nose with his index. "It's not like we were definitely stranded here!"

She smiled shyly. To see her cousin back to the amiable and gentle self she always knew was comforting at least.

So they backtracked, and finally entered the mysterious tunnel. Fiona held the hand of her cousin tightly, especially after they passed the shredded cocoon in the room. They progressed slowly, but it seemed all these precautions were not necessary as nothing came to interfere in their exploring. However, the walls were more and more covered by threads in their way down, and the two youth were almost dazzled by their light.

They did not know how long they walked until they reached a second room, smaller than the first. Its rock faces were entirely covered by the web of luminous thread, glowing with such intensity that Jamie had to put a hand before his eyes and Fiona concealed theirs with her shawl.

It was only when he accustomed himself to this brightness surrounding them that Jamie noticed the glass triangular pyramid. It was roughly of the same height as Fiona, who could have stood inside easily. However, he would not let her try.

This pyramid… he was sure to have seen something similar before, in shape… and in the malevolence it gave off. He could see something shining through its facets of crystal. Was it the source of the threads? Could it be the clue he was looking for to his quest?

Jamie raised his dirk resolutely. He had to know what was concealed in this device.

However, right when he was going to stab the fragile structure, an unknown force pulled back his arm so brutally the shock nearly dislocated it.

"Jamie! The threads!"

Jamie looked at his arm. It was totally tangled in a glimmering net of threads coming out of the wall behind. The pyramid began to rumble, and Jamie, even if he had been free from any sticking rope, would have stayed transfixed by the sight of the glass device elevating itself until he reached the roof of the floor, as long legs of threads grew from its facets, forming a grotesque and gigantic spider of light and crystal.

"Run! Fiona! Run!"

She obeyed, not out of cowardice, but resolute to seek help by any means. Jamie sighed in relief when his cousin disappeared safely in the tunnel. But his respite was cut short when new threads coming from the pyramid, wove a perfect trap around his heels, while the giant spider advanced towards him.

Jamie struggled, and tried to hammer his dirk in the floor of the cavern, but his arm, still tangled, did not obey him anymore. He tried to smash the facets with kicks, but the threads at his legs prevented him even to raise a knee. Soon, he found himself engulfed inside the glass pyramid, and saw, helpless, a cocoon of light form around his body, immobilizing him for good.

Two more threads spring up from nowhere and put themselves on his temples. Immediately, the cave disappeared to Jamie's clouded eyes, replaced by fleeting visions of unknown people, beasties and places he did not thought he could ever imagine. He would have sworn to recognize himself here and there in these unknown sceneries, and his breathing quickened when the Doctor appeared to him, with his twinkling eyes, his smile, his hands… His hands…

Jamie blinked as he saw the walls of the mine again. The threads at his temples pulsed with flashes of light. What were they doing with his mind? He heard somewhere that spiders sucked the flesh of their preys from the inside. Was this monstrous spider going to drain his soul the same way?

The visions came back to him stronger than ever. His senses numbed, Jamie heard himself utter: "No, not this, not again!"

His dirk, which he never released despite of his bonds, fell on the luminous floor.


	12. Chapter 12: You Only Live Twice

Jamie opened his eyes and saw nothing but whiteness. He stood on his elbow, as he was lying on nothing but whiteness, and gazed at the sky above him, which was nothing but whiteness. When he looked at himself, his clothes, once colorful, were nothing but whiteness.

He began to walk unsteadily, but he was not even sure to progress, without any landmark to pass or reach. A thin mist was the only noticeable feature in this place which seemed out of time and space, until, much to his relief, a door appeared before him, standing incongruously in the void without any wall to support it. It had the number six bis written on it, but whatever this number could mean, he did not care, and knocked feverishly.

No response. Jamie put his hand on the handle, and the door opened smoothly. He blinked in disbelief at the view behind.

"Och, what a surprise! Welcome, lad! Fancy a slice of cucumber?"

 **Chapter 12 You only live twice.**

Jamie entered cautiously. He was now in a sort of square yard surrounded with walls like a cloister, but with a pool in its centre. Two setting suns bathed the scenery in a tangling of shadows which made it perhaps even more surreal than the emptiness outside. Not far from the pool, Jamie could see a little table, where a light meal had been served.

"Maybe you'd prefer meat? I'm not very fond of it myself, but…"

The cheerful voice who addressed him belonged to a man, sat casually on a small bench under the shade of an umbrella of many colors which concealed his features to Jamie.

"Who are you? Where are we?" the young piper asked, doing his best to focus on his host rather than on his surroundings.

The man stood up and appeared in broad daylight. Jamie noticed he was wearing a plaided kilt, very much like the one he used to wear back at Culloden, but with a sort of multicolored tartan he had never seen before which made him look like an odd harlequin. A dirk, very much like his own, hung at his belt, complete with a sporran. However, the most remarkable element of his strange getup was the skin of unicorn which covered the upper half of his head and his shoulders, reminding Jamie of the princess of this old fairytale he heard once.

"The answers to these questions will depend on you." the man answered with a smile on his masked face. "Do you ever wonder who you will be? I would like to help you to find it out, by giving you the rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of your potential futures!"

"My what?"

"Come to me."

Subjugated, Jamie obeyed and joined the man who put a broad hand on his shoulder as he sat at his side. He looked curious and intimidating of course, like some sort of wild wizard, but despite the mask, Jamie could see benevolence in his eyes, and kindness in his smile with an impish touch that made him think of the Doctor. And he quite liked this.

"You have engaged yourself in quite a hazardous path, which could put in the wrong the plots of the lords of creation themselves. They simply don't know what to do with you, lad! But, as a matter of fact, they seriously lack of imagination. Look at this…"

He took a book on the table nearby and handed it to the young highlander. All Jamie could read on the cover was the letters "WS". Puzzled, he opened it, and was treated to the picture of an old man, sad and skinny, who seemed to look at him with eyes regretful of his very existence, but also sympathetic and determined, as if he tried to warn him of something.

Jamie closed the book, perplexed.

"Pathetic, isn't it?" the man said with a wry grin. But that's not the last you will see… or rather hear.

He produced a tin rectangular box from his sporran, and gave it in turn to Jamie. The letters "GR" were engraved on the top, and Jamie found a crank on one side of the box, that he turned carefully. But instead of the delicate tune he expected to hear, it was the voice of an old man which rose in the air of the courtyard.

What the man was talking about was of little importance: the harmless things of a tidy life. It was the voice itself that drew Jamie's attention. At first sight, the man sounded gay and cheerful, but, maybe because of his trained ear of musician, he perceived something false and dull in the tone of this voice, like a wrongly tuned instrument. It was as if some awful secret was hidden behind this peace and harmony, a secret that stirred such unease in Jamie's heart that he nearly retched when he released the crank with a trembling hand.

"Who were these two old men?"

It was all he could utter. He felt confused and afraid to understand, yet his eyes were pleading for sense, sense for this persistent feeling of belonging which thrived in his mind since he met his host and the two men he had introduced to him.

"Your two possible fates." the masked man replied wryly. He put the book and the box in each of Jamie's hand, and cupped them gently with his owns. "On one hand, you can live a miserable life where your world will be shaped and tattered by the truth. On the other hand, a good life, free from any big revolution or glorious finish, lived in perfect oblivion of the truth."

"What do you call "the truth"?"

"Och, lad, that's what you're after since you left the battlefield!"

"You mean, the Doctor?"

"The truth about you and him."

Jamie's eyes ran one after the other over the book, the box, and the man with the unicorn head.

"So? What will you put in your sporran? What will you choose?"

Jamie's eyes stopped their course, and focused, stern and cold, on the masked man.

"Wait a minute! I want to know the "truth", but why should I suffer for this? And what sort of "good life" is it, if I have to lie to myself to enjoy it?"

The masked man did not answer. Jamie stood up abruptly, trembling with rage, and threw both the book and the box on the floor.

"These two lads are no sense! I dinnae want to be any of them. I _cannae_ be any of them. And the Doctor? Where is the Doctor in all this mumbo-jumbo?

His voice began to crack, and he swallowed painfully a lump in his throat as he struggled to regain control of himself.

"Well, as you might guess, he has too much of good reasons not to come back." The man whispered, glancing at the book, lying half-opened on the pavement.

Jamie shook his head.

"Enough of riddles talk! You asked me who I will be, right? Let me tell you this: I didn't wonder anymore: I will be the sword of the Doctor, and no one else, and I won't let any so-called future take me away from him!"

Much to his surprise, the masked man smiled and clapped.

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Och, who are you to be glad? Who are you in all this?"

The masked man reached and touched Jamie's cheek. The young highlander nearly fell on his knees, and words formed on his lips faster and faster, trying to match the pace of his boiling brain which seemed to be on the verge to break apart at each second.

"The Doctor... I see him... so close. With him at last... Is this... another future? But why is Zoe not here? And why is Victoria with us? I made my choice. She suffered enough from it. She didn't want to travel anymore. Can't do this to her! Well, it may be coherent, but it's not… fair! Och, I know what you're doing! This is an illusion made after my wishes. My wishes to have not been separated from my Doctor, to keep Victoria by our side even if I couldn't give her what she wanted from me… Unless... Unless you are indeed a trick from some twisted gods minds. Yes, you're tempting me! I won't sacrifice the happiness of these two lassies for my own!"

Blood, warm and thick dripped from his ear along his neck, soiling the hand of the mysterious man. He removed it slowly from Jamie's face and along the other, gripped the sides of his mask.

"You're right. I'm not a future, just a fleeting fantasy."

The skin of the unicorn fell off his head. Jamie's eyes widened.

A smashing noise burst through the air and Jamie heard a voice calling his name along with a furious roar. He looked around him in stupor: he was in the mine again, and was treated to the sight of the shattered body of the giant spider, whose one of the pyramidal facets was broken. Towering it was his friend, the Big Grey Man, with scraps of fading threads all over his arms.

He felt fingers on him, tearing at something. It was Fiona, his dirk in hand who did her best to release him from the last remnants of his glowing prison. By the snatches he could get from her nervous gibberish as he gradually came back to his senses, he learnt that his cousin had run the tunnel until she reached the entrance of the mine, called for help, and was heard by the creature which followed her diligently after it tore the wall of threads as if it was made of paper.

Something fell from his side with a clattering sound as he tried to get up on his numb feet. Fiona picked what looked like a long clothed stick on the floor and gave it to her cousin with questioning eyes. Jamie examined this new curio carefully, and nearly jumped with surprise when the cloth around the stick flew open, revealing its true nature of multi-colored umbrella.

"Now that I remember, Jamie, that was with you in the cocoon." Fiona commented, as perplexed as him. "Do you know where it comes from?"

He shrugged. "Absolutely no idea. But it's nice and funny, don't you think?" he answered cheerfully, rising and twisting the opened umbrella above their heads.

"I'm glad you're not hurt, that's all. Och, but your face still glows!"

Jamie removed some last threads from the side of his head, and felt something unusual at the birth of his jaw. He looked at his fingertips. They were tainted with dried blood.

Jamie shivered, and for a fugitive moment, almost regretted to have been torn from the pyramid by his two friends, even if he could not figure the reason why. He wiped his face quickly before Fiona noticed it, but it was not necessary, as she had now turned her attention to the Big Grey Man, which was chewing some mop of threads quietly.

"Why don't you want to come with us?" she exclaimed, pulling the hand that was not putting more threads in its now glimmering mouth.

It shook his head, barely aware of the attempts of Fiona to drag it along.

"Why not?" Fiona insisted.

Jamie put a hand on her shoulder.

"Fiona, it's secluded here, and our friend won't lack of anything." He glanced at the luminous walls around. "It's a perfect place for it to have a good life, am I mistaken?"

It nodded.

"Well… Goodbye then." Fiona released the paw of the creature and went away in the tunnel after a timid, sad wave.

Jamie looked at her behind his back, but decided wisely to face the Grey Man instead.

"Now that I'm thinking of it, I didn't thank you properly… » he almost whispered, twirling the umbrella in his hand.

The creature looked at him, then at the umbrella with a curious glint in the eye.

"Would you like it?" he said, handing it to his friend.

It shook its head briefly, and instead, handed in turn to Jamie a silver sphere, rusty and cracked, which was the size of a little pumpkin. Probably the thing Jamie saw shining in the pyramid previously. The young piper took it without a word, lost in the soft, twinkling eyes of his savior and friend. He was barely aware of putting the ball in his sporran as he reached up, and planted a kiss on the furry cheek of the creature.

The sun shone brightly when he finally got out of the mine, and Jamie opened his new umbrella with delight, despite the clouds of mist that were already coming to them from the horizon. He found a sullen Fiona, sat curled up in a ball on tree trunk nearby, and offered his hand to her with a warm smile. She wiped the corner of her eyes and took it, smiling back shyly. The umbrella above them was like a rainbow protecting their path on the moor, and when the mist finally fell upon them, Jamie nearly sank in it joyously.

He did not know what would come to him tomorrow or next year, but one thing was sure in his mind: the secret of a good life was to look for the truth.


	13. Chapter 13: No More Tears

The mist was so thick Jamie could barely see his hand holding his umbrella like a blind man would do with his cane to explore his surroundings. He could have waited, he should have waited for a lull, but Fiona had disappeared once more, and it was out of question to let her wander alone –and probably afraid- in a place he knew nothing about, except that it was at seaside, judging by the smell of sea spray in his nostrils, and the sand shifting under his soles.

The sound of waves, however, was coming from everywhere at once, and Jamie soon discovered why when he realized, after trying to follow the coast to find some inhabited place, that he was in fact turning in circles on a small islet lost in the middle of the sea.

Determined not to let discouragement take the best of him, Jamie sat on a rock whose shape evoked a laid down unicorn. Resting his head on his curled up knees, he tried to figure what the Doctor would do in such a situation, when a monotonous chant came suddenly to his ears.

 _The mist of the stacks is about the face of the Cuillinn_

 _And the fairy woman has sung her sad song_

 **Chapter 13: No more tears.**

The singing was so faint he was nearly covered by the sound of the tide, but there could be no mistake: someone was there, a woman precisely, piercing the mist with her voice like a sonorous lighthouse that Jamie followed eagerly. Soon, he ended up in front of water. Without hesitation, Jamie set his umbrella on his back with a leather cord, and barefoot, entered slowly in the cold sea.

 _Gentle blues eyes in the fort are crying_

 _Since you left, and will never return_

The water soon reached his knees, then his thighs, and Jamie was forced to wrap his sporran in the folds of his kilt, whom he tucked the hem in his belt. Each step got him nearer, closer to the voice which belonged to her savior, until he heard the next words of the lament.

 _He will never return MacCrimmon_

 _In war-time or peace he will never return_

He stopped short, and a surge of defiance grew in his heart. Could he be the play of some malevolent swimming beastie? He gripped his dirk tightly, still resolute not to move back. Fiona could be in danger after all.

 _With neither money nor possessions he will return_

 _He will never return 'til judgement day_

The water receded around him and Jamie pulled his garment back on his legs. At least, he would not die drowned… He had reached a new islet, and now, the voice was loud and clear. Soon, he would know who could grieve on his fate so carelessly.

Then the mist lifted all at once, and Jamie was treated to the sight of a woman who was turning her back to him, her two bare feet protruding from her damp red petticoat. At least, he would not be eaten by a mermaid. He called after her, and when she faced him, her eyes widened just like she saw a ghost.

"Jamie ?!"

"You know my name?"

"Jamie, you don't recognise me? It's me, Fiona!"

It was Jamie's turn to be shocked. He knew she was not lying when he looked closely at her features and recognized her large, expressive eyes, the shape of her nose, the line of her neck and her pouty lips. But they belong to a young woman now, who should be around the same age than him. Has he ever moved so far in time before? he wondered, watching her, like in a dream, come closer and begin to touch his face shyly, as if herself wanted to make sure he was real.

"It's incredible! You did not change at all! Och, Jamie I waited this moment for so long!"

She threw herself in his arms. Her body felt strange against his, as a mix of familiar and new. Still, it was good to see her again, he decided. He pulled away from her gently.

"Well, you didn't change so much either, Fiona, you're still very lovely!..."

She blushed at his praise.

"…but you don't have to sing such a sinister song! You didn't see me for quite a long time, right, but I'm still alive, you see!" he grinned brightly.

The same cannot be said of Fiona, whose expression changed brutally to one of utter dismay.

"Och, Jamie, it has been awful the last time I saw you. I really thought you'd never come back, you know. Why don't you stop all this and come back with me to Borreraig?"

"It's impossible, Fiona. The Doctor needs me. It's important, you know." Jamie answered, perplexed at her sudden change of attitude.

"But how can you live like this? Is that Doctor of yours so important that you are eager to constantly put yourself in danger for him?"

"Well, that's part of the thrill…"

"And me? And your ma'? Are we not important to you? I'm fed up to only see you in my nightmares!"

"Aye, aye, but… we had great times together, don't we?"

"You don't understand… You really don't understand…" she whispered, stepping back and lowering her head.

"Fiona…" He reached out shyly, but she did not even seem to notice him anymore. She slowly fell on her knees, hiding her face in her hands, her body shaken by nervous sobs.

"I can't… I can't…"

Jamie knelt gently before her.

"Fiona…"

"I can't let another tragedy happen!"

She raised her head suddenly as she ended her words by an inhuman, high-pitched yell which could have been enough to paralyze Jamie with fear, if he was not already shivering at the sight of her blue-green skin and the disturbing glint in her eyes. A white gas came out of her screaming lips, shrouding his body and blinding his face. He collapsed instantly.

A sweetish scent of tide and seaweed came to his nostrils, and Jamie blinked as he felt a hand caressing his cheek gently. He sighed, and little bubbles spurted from his mouth, scattering in water. Water?

His eyes flew open, and the first thing he saw was the face of Fiona, bent over him, looking at him tenderly. Her hair, made of seaweeds, had grown incredibly long, so long Jamie soon realized the bangs at the end of her bread branched out all around them, forming a gigantic vegetal sphere.

He tried to move. In vain. All he could see was thick, white foam, sticking to his limbs, gluing him on a stone behind him as surely as a prey on a spider web. How could there be foam like this under water? And how was he not already drowned by now?

"Why struggle like this? You see these bubbles of foam on you? If you happened to burst them, you could not breathe anymore!" Fiona said gently, breathing some more white gas which turned instantly into foam as soon as it touched the skin of his throat.

"Why are you trapping me here? This is not like you, Fiona!"

She stepped back, her petticoat floating around her slender legs like the umbrella of a jellyfish while she stood before him.

"You give me no other way, Jamie! You tell me I'm lovely, but... is that really all I can get from you? You know, since you left, I never stopped to think about you, to wait for you, and no one else. Even now, when I listen to fairytales, the Prince is always you. And I am always the Princess."

She lowered her head sheepishly, but she was still staring at Jamie with eyes full of pent up passion and turmoil. She reached up and let her fingers brushed against his cheek.

"Please! Try to imagine how happy we will be together, the home we will share, the bairns we will love... I know I'm your cousin, but... that kind of thing, you don't really choose, do you?"

Jamie closed his eyes, his cousin's words ringing in his spine. What a good life it would be for anyone... A woman who looked upon you, a woman you could protect and cherish like a gallant knight because she needed you... A life under everyone's approval. So easy, so reassuring... Like this place under the sea. Like her body against his, back on the islet. Just reassuring. Only reassuring.

He chukled wryly.

"What's wrong?" Fiona asked, perplexed.

He shook his head and gulped nervously, regaining his composure. Yet his hand was trembling, invisible under the layer of foam covering it.

"That's everyone want from me, eh? But Fiona... Do you think the princess would be happy if the prince just... pretended to love her?"

"What do you mean?"

The trembling in Jamie's hand increased all the more under the foam.

"Fiona... Tell me... what would happen if the knight, for once, chose the wizard over the princess?"

Fiona's face was motionless, but Jamie could follow in her eyes, widening and moving, her struggle to make sense of his shocking confession. She closed them suddenly, as if it would turn off the uproar within her.

"Your wizard… is it this Doctor?" she finally asked, her voice barely more than a murmur.

"…Yes."

She clenched her fist on her chest.

"I should have guessed… when you talk about him, your eyes are the same as mine, when I think about you… But how could I imagine such… Och, Jamie, this is so absurd, you… you can't even be sure he feels the same for you!"

"I didn't really choose it either, you know..."

"Jamie..."

"I'm sorry, Fiona... I did my best but, truth is, I will never be a good husband, not even a good knight-servant to you or to any lassie... You're right to be mad at me. I want to find the Doctor, but still, I would never lift a hand on you."

It was not his hand which was trembling this time, but the clenched fist of Fiona. He looked away, limbs inert, prepared for anything to happen. A loud rumble rose around him.

...which soon gave way to the distant cry of seagulls. Jamie opened his eyes he did not realized he had shut: he was on the beach again, as if nothing had happened, except from some last bits of foam, which burst in little bubbles here and there on his damp body.

Fiona was half-lying at his side, visibly out of breath. The blue-green of her skin was fading, her hair was real, with its usual red color, and her eyes were wide with confusion.

"Jamie, me neither I would never hurt you! You may be a sinner, but you're still my cousin, even if… even if… Och, Jamie, what happened to me?" she exclaimed, distraught.

"Sshh, just another nightmare, that's all." he answered, hugging her tightly like the child he was used to know.

She sighed, resting against his chest, until the mist began to fall, hiding the horizon. Both stood up without a word, facing each other as white fog already lapped their feet.

Fiona was the first to break the silence.

"Nothing will ever change your mind, won't it?"

"Fiona... Surely there must be..." he said reaching out to her as mist was now reaching their waists.

She produced something from her blouse, and put it in his open hand. It was a leaf of seaweed, coming from her previous metamorphosis.

"Goodbye, Jamie… I don't know what it is but I hope this would help to find what you're looking for, because... I think you're a good person, whatever people say."

He held her hands in his own, the seaweed tightly intertwined between his fingers.

"Goodbye, Fiona… You're a good person too, you know. Eh? You're crying?"

He wiped a tear from her eye. She smiled gently.

"Don't worry... It's just... it's the end of something for me."

Before he could react, her face disappeared behind the mist.

Jamie raised his hand slowly, contemplating the seaweed, ragged and dried up in his palm. He smelled it, but its sickly sweet scent just made him dizzy. He quickly put it in his sporran, and wiped his fingers on his damp sleeve, wondering if the path he chose was doomed to be one of solitude.


	14. Chapter 14: The Logical Song

Alarm-clock rang, and she blinked at the little screen glowing in her hand, providing her only source of light. She had fallen asleep once more while she was playing. But at least, she has won. One more victory. And much more credits to her account. She wondered for a moment if supercalculation counted as cheating in online tournaments, but soon she forced herself to concentrate on more urgent matters. She had to hurry. In less than one hour would begin another day of service in the library.

 **Chapter 14: the logical song.**

"Zoe, Zoe!"

The calling and the knock at the door of her cabin woke her up more efficiently than her alarm did. Staggering in half-light, she quickly opened the door and faced Tanya, holding a cardbox in her hands.

"Did I wake you up?" Tanya asked, looking at the t-shirt and glittery purple short she was still wearing instead of her basic uniform.

"It's all right." Zoe answered with a voice as blank as her face, despite the shadows under her eyes.

"In that case… Good morning, Zoe, this has come for you." Tanya said, handing her the cardbox with a gentle smile.

"Thanks." Zoe took the package with a nod.

"You seem to order frequently lastly. Found a new hobby?"

"Sort of…" she replied absently, staring at the box in her hands.

Tanya sighed at the empty, functional room she glanced behind Zoe. Apart from the uniforms and underwear piled-up higgledy-piggledy on a table, no sign of any leisure or even human activity around.

"Zoe, do you…"

"Yes?"

"Oh, nothing… Well then… see you later at the library!"

Zoe waved at her distractedly and closed the door. As soon as she found herself alone, she opened the card box feverishly and shouted with joy at his content. Quickly, she locked her cabin. The library could wait. She had to return to her sanctuary.

She opened her large closet, but instead of simply putting her new stuff inside, she turned on the inner light and entered it. She giggled with delight. She had finally received the last missing part! The walls of her closet were almost totally hidden by panels full of levers, buttons and flashes, leaving only a hexagonal surface on the centre, covered by cushions of all sorts since Zoe took the habit to sleep in it more often than in her regular bed, curled up in a ball, her Karkus doll in her arms.

It all had begun when her awful nightmares of cybermen began. So awful and pregnant that in these dreams, she could see them in places other than the Wheel. There, she had tried to conjure her irrational fears by looking for more information on their account. Surfing on the extranet, she had found the precious records of a photograph named Isobel Watkins. Further researches on this woman provided much more useful evidences… and a most surprising discovery. Cybermen were not the only subject of this photograph whose track was lost sometime in the 20th century. She had also done some… fashion shots in the sixties, of herself, and of a young girl. A young girl who looked exactly like her. It was not a simple resemblance. It really was her portrait, smiling in a feather boa. Astonished, she tried to find the identity of this young girl, but without any success. She also believed in a joke from some member of the crew, but when she zoomed, out of curiosity on a high-rendered shot of her double extending her hand, she could clearly see the footprints on it. Which were exactly the same as her owns.

No practical joker could be so dedicated to his art to the verge he could replace the footprints of his victim on a montage. She had to admit the impossible: she was the girl on these photos. And she now had to figure how to make the impossible possible.

She proceeded as she always did: with pure logic. She did not remember to have done these photographs. An explanation could be that the Academy had altered her memories in a way or so. However, she discarded this hypothesis when she remembered that the shots have been taken in the sixties, when she and the Academy were not even born.

So, there was still one possibility: if she had not done these photos in the past, she should do them in the future, or rather, in a future travel in the past. She had long considered time-travel as a myth, along with many of her childhood fantasies, but her encounter with this man calling himself the Doctor and his young friend had definitely revived them with a brand new vigour. She wished she could meet him again; surely he would have the knowledge to unfold this mystery… But now, she was on her own to solve one of the greatest challenges in human history. The little girl in her who was so fond of sci-fi stuff shivered. Who knows who could happen if she could not travel in time to be the subject of these photos?

She worked on the problem for months. She gathered all the data she could get on the subject through thorough reading and searching, along with some other knowledge hidden so deep in her mind she could not recall where she gained it, and soon managed to conceive a satisfying draft. At least in a theoretical way.

In practice, it did not come without issues.

Of course, there was the material required. She does choose to keep her research secret, since she would not know how the crew would react if they came to learn about her project. But it was not much of a challenge to bring rare stuff in the base, where so much complex experiments and apparels were conducted, without drawing attention. For once, it was fortunate for her to be regarded as a freak, and avoided most of the time in consequence.

The principal matter was indeed the fantastic amount of energy demanded by such a travel. Inspiration came to her, however, in the most unexpected way by seeing a French sci-fi movie from the sixties. Cerebral waves, guided by powerful mental images produced by memory. If she managed to find a way to travel only by mind, while she could sustain a tangible appearance like in the movie, the problem would be solved drastically. It still demanded great power though, power she drew from the resources of the Wheel itself. She worked quickly and efficiently, but could not divert very much, and not for a very long time at the risk of being discovered.

But now she had her last piece, the mercury pile she needed to achieve her goal. She wrapped herself in bubble wrap she had kept from her previous orders, since her first tests had sent up jumping with spasms all over the tiny space, leaving her with bruises more than often; and without delay, set herself in the empty space at the centre of her machine. She put on a visor connected by a myriad of wires to the apparel surrounding her, including two main cables stuck by crosses of adhesive tape right where her eyes should be underneath. Her brain was the central element of her invention, in every sense of the word.

"Are you ready, Alice?" she asked, as she became one with the device, which seemed to hum in response.

She took a last glance at the photo of herself pinned on a wall, and pulled a lever. A powerful wave of energy ran through all of her body, from her neck to her inner thighs, to the tip of her toes, fingers and breasts, her spine shivering as she tensed in electrical ecstasy. She collapsed, as confusing memories whirled in her mind like flashing lights of a lighthouse.

The mist just lifted on the highlands when Jamie felt something fidgeting in his sporran. Before he could react, it jolted so violently it made him fall on his rear, just to see the responsible extricate itself from the little pocket, wander around, and finally speak in a high-pitched, metallic voice.

"Jamie? What are you doing here? Where's the Doctor?"

"How did you get there, beastie? And how do you know me and the Doctor? I'm looking for him…"

"Don't you recognize me?"

"I know no tiny tin beastie, sorry."

"Tin beastie?"

She suddenly realized how tall Jamie was compared to her. Doubtful, she caught sight of a small pond nearby and approached it carefully. What she saw as her reflection looked like a sort of mole, but a metallic one, without claws of paws. Its eyes were curiously shaped, each forming a cross on each side of its head, and a little twisted horn protruded on its front. Apart from these last details, she was in front of a perfectly functional cybermat.

She gasped. Something had gone wrong with Alice. Normally, she would have converted her brain wave into a sort of holographic avatar, programmed to be a perfect copy of herself, visible by everybody, and even palpable thanks to electric impulses sent to the brain of her interlocutor. It was faultless, undoubtedly, except that she had the frame of a cybermat. And most of that, another matter came to her already heating brain.

She turned to Jamie.

"You have never seen a creature like me, do you?"

"Never seen in my life, and I'm quite getting used to all sorts of beasties." he replied roughly.

"Jamie... have you ever been in space? Do you remember the Wheel?"

"What are you talking about?"

Zoe stayed silent. Jamie did not recognize the cybermat, and was alone, looking for the Doctor. He did not remember the Wheel, and truth was, he would probably not remember or recognize her either, even, if she was standing in her true form before him.

Then she realized. Could it be… that this Jamie had not yet lived the events on the Wheel? If so, she could not question him too thoroughly, let alone show herself to him, since it could create a dangerous paradox. She had to get back quickly.

This is when she realized another thing was wrong. She did not feel her "real" self, still lying in the Wheel, anymore. The horned cybermat was not a remote controlled avatar, she _was_ it, and she did not know how to switch back to her real body. A surge of anguish rose in her heart, and she would probably have started panicking if she did not feel at this very moment a flood of electric warmth replace it, wave after wave. Was Alice trying to… reassure her, to tell her something? Her mind now clearer, she concentrated on this new problem and wondered suddenly… was there a reason for her to be stranded here with Jamie instead of following her initial goal? Did she have a greater role to play than she first believed? Could it be another paradox? One more?... Well, this could provide an explanation for the fact that Jamie knew about cybermats when she first met him at the Wheel...

A sharp voice cut her train of thoughts.

"You didn't answer me, beastie: do you know the Doctor?"

Jamie's eyes betrayed his eagerness and anxiety more surely than the question itself. Zoe knew that her response could be decisive for the future, in a literal sense. She cautiously opted for the plain, detached truth.

"Yes, I have met him, but I don't know of his whereabouts…"

Jamie sighed in disappointment. Zoe finally took her decision.

"…But I can help you to find him."

He faced her abruptly, crawling on all fours to meet her empty gaze.

"How can you do that? And why?"

"How, I don't know yet. And for why, all I could say is that I have an important role to play in your life."

"What sort of mumbo-jumbo are you talking?"

"It's of no importance. I want to help you, and first, I need to know where, and especially _when_ we are…"

To Zoe's surprise, Jamie did not seem troubled by her last question.

« Well, I have not the slightest idea. I travel through time and space, too, in a way, since I'm looking for the Doctor. »

Zoe's eyes widened, at least in her mind.

"Do you have a machine of yours?"

"Not really. The mist makes me travel."

"The mist?!"

On these last words, fog, white and thick, began to fall upon them.

"Be careful, tin beastie!" Jamie said with a wry smile. "Here it comes again!"

And everything disappeared around her.


	15. Chapter 15: Generous Palmstroke

The mist lifted on a pale sun, and Zoe sighed in relief at the familiar feeling of her visor on her eyes, concealing the top-half of her face. She looked at herself, and counted the right number of arms and legs, as well as the right hair colour. The only oddity was the glittery purple dress of Victorian little girl she was currently wearing, complete with white apron and striped stockings. But most of all, she realized, when she saw the empty cybermat lying at her side, that she could interact with her real body again, which meant she could now come back to her time, and proceed to her intended travel.

 **Chapter 15: Generous palmstroke.**

Alice seemed to have come back to her senses, despite this unexpected display of her sense of humour, she thought, as she put the tiny robot - which had now returned to his normal design - in a pocket of her apron. It was a good thing, however, that she kept her face hidden. There was no risk of dangerous paradox. Jamie would never know, when he will come to the Wheel, that he met her before. By the way, where was he?

In fact she could not guess about her current whereabouts herself. She was now on a deserted moor, and there was no trace of the path or the small pond near which she met Jamie before. Did she really move just thanks to the mist? It was ridiculous… But still, she was alone, in an unknown place, and she would not press her button of return before she knew at least if Jamie was right and well.

She jumped when a loud stomping noise rose suddenly behind her. She turned around quickly, but saw nothing except a little grassy hill. The stomping noise came back, this time followed by angry voices. Zoe shivered. Maybe Jamie was in trouble. Boldly, she began to climb the hill.

When she reached the top, Zoe was treated to the sight of one of the strangest creature she ever saw in her secluded life. Its height was roughly of five meters, and the shape of its dark purple iron body reminded the one of a light bulb, supported by two short and massive legs. Two square arms, without hands or fingers, protruded from each side of the pear body, moving up and down like bars fixed on a rail. But arms and legs were not the only thing the creature had in double. Moving on a sort of rail as well, Zoe could see two balls, bristled with some sort of twisted horns, whose she realized they were indeed heads when she heard them arguing each other vehemently. So vehemently, indeed, that when they tried to make a step, the legs moved in two opposites directions, causing the creature to fall loudly, giving to Zoe the origin of the noises that had drawn her attention. The creature tried to stand up, but the task was difficult, its stiff arms being totally useless. When it finally managed to get on its feet, the two spiked "heads" started their argument again with a renewed vigour.

This creature was fearsome, but also clumsy. If there was danger, she had no doubt she could escape easily. Moreover, there may be nobody else for miles around, so Zoe decided to push her luck.

"Excuse-me." She asked, her hands behind her back.

The two heads stopped their quarrel, noticing her presence at last.

"Have you seen a young man in a skir… kilt somewhere?"

If the creatures have had eyes, they surely would have blinked incredulously.

"We may tell you if you help us to settle our little dispute." the left head answered with a high-pitched voice.

The right head, granted with a low and forceful tone, shouted indignantly.

"Why involve her into this? She is not from our world!"

"Maybe but we shouldn't be ashamed of ourselves!"

"Shut up!"

At that very moment, the right head launched itself on the other, trying to pierce its iron head with its horns. It succeeded, and sparks flew at the impact. The left head repelled it quickly, however, and Zoe, through the rails, caught a glimpse of something glowing and pulsating from within the creature's body.

"I won't accept your commands anymore!" the left head protested vehemently, before it spoke again on a quieter tone: "Now, listen, little girl. We have a bomb inside us." - It pointed their throbbing chest – "A bomb that may explode at any time. We have tried to ignore it for years, but his tickling is stronger than ever, now, and we don't know how to deal with it."

"I know what to do! Rip it here and now and we will be at peace!" the right head snapped.

"What this bone-head doesn't tell you, lassie, is that if we do so, we will lose ourselves."

"What do you mean?" Zoe asked.

"Well… this bomb has been a part of us as far as we remember. And I feel that without it, we won't be the same ever." the left head answered soulfully.

"It won't be a big loss for us and for the world!"

"Why say that? Shall we destroy all disturbing things? Thanks to this bomb, life is more intense and lively, it drove us beyond us, made us feel stronger, happier, especially when we think about…"

"Silence, idiot! It may be a pity for you, but I'd better get rid of that mess than to be destroyed!" the right head yelled, and tried to hit its counterpart again.

"I want a life where we're true to ourselves, no matter how short it is!" the left head mimicked the assault.

Zoe watched with growing concern the damages on the heads of the twin creature increase dramatically as their quarrel reached new highs of brutality. The glowing pulsation fastened more than ever and smoke began to rise from the rail, which lead Zoe's logic mind to consider her matter at hand on a brand new perspective.

The creature fell once more on the ground. Composedly, she stepped at its side, and offered her arm to help it, despite how absurd it might be.

"Can I suggest something about your problem?" she asked politely.

The creature got on its feet, and Zoe would have sworn the twin heads looked at each other in perplexity at that very moment. That did not in the least falter her determination.

"Maybe this thing in you is a bomb only because you don't accept it?"

"Most of people find it disgusting." the right head replied in a bitter tone.

"I don't think so personally." Zoe smiled. "Moreover, I know a man who makes himself call the Doctor, he would surely find a way to preserve that thing in you without it could hurt. Anyway, I'm sure he won't let you down. But I'll have trouble to find him if you don't help me to find my friend first."

The creature did not answer anything. And suddenly, its arms moved, following a complex pattern reminding Zoe of a sort of unlocking combination. Soon, the body of the creature opened itself, like the cockpit of spaceship, and much to Zoe's surprise, revealed the frame of Jamie, hanging upside-down and unconscious, tied to the inner parts of what was now an empty shell by ribbons of white vaporous silk, forming a sort of toga on his body.

Zoe was so amazed that, when the ribbons fell apart in turn, it takes her several seconds to realize that Jamie was slowly toppling over the ground. She collapsed when she caught him in her arms, just in time, but none of them was hurt, and she smiled in relief when he finally opened his eyes.

"What happened to me? Who are you?"

"You were trapped in this…" she fingered the metallic hulk of the creature behind him. "…And I was trapped in here, do you remember?" she handed him the empty cybermat.

He turned the tiny device in his hands, watching alternately it and Zoe with a frown, which faded as soon as he considered the sporran at his belt.

"Can I keep this with me?" he asked finally.

She nodded with a smile. After a last glance, Jamie put it in the little pocket, and the two youths decided to take a closer look at the inert carcass of the twin creature.

"You don't remember how you have been trapped here, but do you have any memory of what happened after?" Zoe asked genuinely as she drew one of the square arms along its rail in a vain attempt to understand the mechanism of opening of the cockpit.

"Bits..." He blushed slightly and before Zoe could question further, he suddenly turned to her with an indignant look on his face and hands on his hips. "Tell me, woman, how can you confound a skirt and a kilt? Skirts are much longer!"

"From where I come, skirts are short like this, sometimes even shorter!" she answered with a shrug.

"You come from a very strange world…" he commented, scratching his head doubtfully.

"I'm sure you'd like it!" she responded with an enigmatic grin.

Fascinated and perplexed, Jamie was about to reply something, when he discovered, hidden under layers of silk, a shining round object he could have compared in shape and size to an ostrich egg, if he had known anything about these birds.

Zoe shivered, especially when she saw Jamie shake it carelessly and try to pry it open (in vain) with his knife.

"Wait a minute! Isn't this dangerous anymore?"

Jamie smiled. "I don't think so."

Zoe's eyes widened when she saw him put the voluminous artefact in his sporran, which was obviously much smaller.

Noticing her incredulous face, Jamie grinned. "It's a gift I received from a… special someone. Best I can do is to tell you about all my travels until now…" He sat on the grass, in the shadow of the great creature, and soon, he was speaking to Zoe with such warmth he sounded like he was giving news to an old friend he had not met for a very long time.

Listening to his tales –that she'd rather call fairytales-, Zoe's mind gradually overflew itself with interrogations. About the time of Jamie (the XVIIIth century?!), this mysterious mist, these strange monsters, these objects he collected that were so important without he really knew why, his sporran which was visibly an opening to a dimensional flaw… This last element could be a key to the answer but she had no mean to confirm what was still a pure hypothesis. But maybe the Doctor could. Zoe set her mind: she had to help Jamie to find the Doctor, so, these riddles would be solved, and he and Jamie could be together to live the events of the Wheel, leading the paradox to its end, while Zoe could complete her further mission.

At the very moment Jamie concluded his tale, mist began to fall on the moor.

"So, you're still sure you want to travel with me despite the dangers? With no other protection than a man in skirt who loves another man?" Jamie asked as he stood up, the empty frame of the creature, surrounded by clouds of fog, still behind him, like a dark and protective genie.

She smiled brightly and took his hand.

"I'll be proud of it!"

His fingers tightened around her palm. He chuckled slightly.

"You're a strange wee lassie for sure. Would you show me your face by the way?"

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not. I don't know what would happen if I did so."

"Whatever floats your boat. I don't know what "part" you have to do in my life… but you are a kind lassie, and I don't mind your company. Could you at least give me a name I can use to call you?"

"Well… you can call me Alice!" she replied shyly as mist slowly engulfed them.


	16. Chapter 16: Sweet Intuition

Jamie almost believed he had come back in time when he recognised the city of Inverness, bathed in fog just like the day he parted ways with the Doctor... But after all, how could he be so sure he had not indeed come back in time? He was about to ask his new friend about this, when he realized she was nowhere to be found.

At the same moment, cries of panic rose all around the harbour and Jamie moved aside just in time to let some people run past him in disorder. Without hesitation, Jamie rushed in the opposite direction, where Alice could be in danger.

His steps led him to the sea and he had nearly reached the quays when he caught a glimpse of some redcoats at the turn of a street. Stopping right his course, he hid behind a wall, but this precaution was almost unnecessary since the soldiers were entirely focused on shooting on something he could not see from where he was standing. More and more groups of people with women and bairns were fleeing everywhere in the city, and soon, someone sounded the retreat. The redcoats fled in turn, leaving Jamie free to enter the harbour.

The mist lifted, and truth was Jamie could hardly miss what caused such a rout.

 **Chapter 16: Sweet Intuition.**

Resting on her elbows in the salty water of the sea, was a giant woman, so big she could have played with the fishing boats floating around like toys in her bath. Her metallic skin was shining under the midday sun while what looked like an enormous snake with glittery scales was crawling all over her body. Her face was turned to the horizon so Jamie could not see it, but that was good for him, since she could not see him either...

She was lying perfectly still as he walked cautiously along the jetty, looking for Alice. He did not dare to divert his eyes from the creature much long however, and that's why he did not see the rope holding some barrels, stretched right for his foot to trip over.

The rope gave way under his stumbling, and Jamie, falling on all fours, could only see in horror the barrels roll over on each other and come crashing down on the wooden planks of the jetty.

He jumped on his feet in panic, dirk in hand. But the creature did not move. In fact, it was just like she did not notice anything. Apart from the sound of waves hitting the coast with unceasing regularity, there was an unusual silence in the harbour now that everyone had gone; she could not have missed such a racket. Maybe she was deaf?

He resumed his search, venturing this time a soft, whispering calling.

"Alice..."

No reaction from the monster, but no response from his friend neither.

"Alice? Where are you, lassie? Alice? ALICE!"

The rhythm of the waves hitting the coast seemed to fasten in response as he walked faster and faster, shouted louder and louder, out of boldness and anguish.

Suddenly, a flash of light came from behind his back. He turned around, and come to face a giant smooth and black sphere, surrounded by curtains of straight hair, which was none other than the head of the creature, crouching before him like a giant spider.

Jamie could see the terror on his face reflected on the polished surface which took the place of her features. But he did not lower his eyes.

"Why are you calling me? What do you want from me?" the creature asked, in an inquisitive tone.

At that instant, fear gave way to surprise in Jamie's sharp mind.

"What?! Is that you, Alice? Are you trapped again?"

"There was no trap ever. We are one and the same."

"But you're not all of her." Another voice added. Jamie turned his head and discovered these last words were uttered by the snake which was still crawling around her.

"Silence! Listen, both of you, I won't let you cause any trouble again. There had been so much suffering because of feelings..."

A slight shiver ran through the metallic skin of the titan, and scattered itself in a circular wave across the sea.

"Yet his feelings for the Doctor are inspiring, aren't they?" replied the snake, pointing Jamie with the hem of its tail.

A sound of crack rang out in the air, and the creature ran away from the coast at a surprising speed for someone this big. Moved by pure instinct, Jamie seized the rope he stumbled upon, where a hook was tied, and launched it like a lasso on the titan.

The hook gripped the tail of the snake. Or to be true, it was the tail of the snake that gripped itself on it and pulled the rope as the titan moved away. Before the tension dislocated his arms, Jamie tied quickly the other hem of the rope in the middle of his folded umbrella, and settled on it with the tie between his legs. Then, without waiting for the shock to come, he jumped into the rough water.

He found himself almost flying above the current as he was pulled up by the snake's tail. Waves came to him in a regular pattern, pushing him away each time he met them in his course, and in fact, it was surely what they were intended for, he said to himself, when he noticed those waves were in fact emitted in circles from the titan. However, the snake was holding the hook firmly, preventing Jamie to be casted away and even drawing him nearer to its giant counterpart, standing by her height in the middle of the heavy seas, her voice sharp and clear, like defying the world around her.

« I am Alice, mistress of space and time. With me to delete the pain, the flesh in me will be safe."

Another wave troubled the salty water. Jamie held on tight.

"Alice ! Why are you fleeing? It's me, Jamie!" the young highlander called, but his voice seemed to lost itself in the turmoil of the sea.

"Feelings are not only about pain." the boa stated, as the scales of its head shivered, and transformed into the half-top of a blonde woman, whose face reflected on the smooth, black surface of the titan's face.

"Stop this! Photographic memories won't have any further use." On these last words, the metallic skin of the titan shuddered anew. Another wave made cease her trembling, although somewhat harshly.

"Feelings are sometimes our only remnants from the past…"

The snake changed his frame again, and the half-top of a younger, lovely girl with long brown hair and wide blue eyes appeared, covering her chest with her hands with modesty.

"I am her! She's mine!" the titan was shaking for good now, and the sea was raging despite the fine weather.

"We shouldn't be so sure!" the snake answered quietly.

"I'm sure you're hurting her!"

"Excuse me, but… for someone who thinks that feelings are bad, you're sure trying hard to keep this lassie safe with you."

Stopped right in their argument, the two entities turned their heads to Jamie, which, in the meantime, had climbed the rope and reached the snake's tail, which diligently lifted itself so he could face the titan.

"What do you mean, you primitive brute?" she asked roughly.

"You care very much about her, don't you? I can get it, you know…"

"Of course, I care! We are one and the same!"

"I am too…" the snake whispered.

Jamie shook his head.

"Alice, I don't get anything of this, but I will protect you, whatever you are!"

She stared at him from all her height, but could not prevent her head to tilt above her shoulder out of curiosity.

"Hmpf! Do you think we can't handle ourselves? Maybe it's YOU that need us more than we do! How desperate you must be to crawl after a monster like we are!"

"Och, Alice, you have been the first to accept me, I don't care what you are, as long as we're still friends."

The silence was total for a moment. Then, a loud bursting noise filled each parcel of the sky and sea. The titan, resting on her elbows, tipped her head back, and a long crack made its way from her inner thighs to all along her body, which began to shrink along with the snake coiled up around her. Soon, Jamie could discern, bathed in light, a human form coming out of what now looked like a sloughing of metal. The human form curled into a ball slowly, as its previous envelope sank little by little in the depths of the sea.

Quickly, Jamie cut the rope tying him to the snake with his dirk so he would not be carried along the still heavy weight of the former titan. Setting his umbrella behind his back again, he swam quickly to the human, worried that he or she could be drowned. He was only half-surprised to recognize the helmet of his friend Alice, unconscious in the midst of the rough sea. Unable to bring her round, he slipped an arm around her waist for support, and felt something long and downy under his fingers, like a sort of seaweed. However, when he brought it back to the surface, it was a feather scarf that Jamie discovered glistening in his hand. Leaving all questioning aside, he tied firmly the artifact around his shoulder, and secured his companion behind him while he made his way back to the shore.

Zoe blinked at the worried voice calling her assumed name, and shivered as she felt warm hands rub her arms and back through thick cloth. She raised her head, and met the face of Jamie, smiling to her in visible relief.

She stared at him for a few seconds in puzzlement, then a surge of panic woke her up completely when she realized she was naked under the long black cloak which covered her shoulders. She palpated her head restlessly, and her heartbeat slowed down when she felt the reassuring presence of Alice around her once again.

"Och, don't worry, I respect your secret, and if you ever mind for the rest, you were covered in foam and sea grass when I brought you back here, so… Well, I hope my cape is warm enough..." Jamie said in a chuckle while removing a leaf of dried seaweed from her hair. She flushed, more shameful of her lack of thrust than of clothes.

"By the way, I think it's yours!" he plunged his hand in his sporran and handed her a feather boa, damp and plucked but still soft to the touch.

Out of perplexity and words, she wrapped it around her neck, and feathers tickled her cheeks when she curled up a little more into Jamie's warm cloak with half-lidded eyes. For the first time since she was there, she felt cold and tired and indeed, it was fine for her.

Voices came from the harbor behind them, and Zoe saw Jamie tensed suddenly.

"The redcoats! They're coming back! We have to leave the town quickly!" he exclaimed as he crouched, hands joined behind his back so she could climb on it.

She crawled on all four and wrapped herself around his neck and waist. Rocked by the swift pace of her friend, she drifted off as the mist engulfed them slowly, thinking of these emotions which were able to create such inner monsters.


	17. Chapter 17: Declare Independence

"It seems we are still together for once", Jamie noticed, feeling the weight of his friend on his back as the mist lifted on them.

He could not tell how long they had been following this coast, or when sharp cliffs had replaced the soft sand and jetties, but the night was now falling quickly. Fortunately, their steps had led them to the lights of an inhabited place.

As they were getting closer, they realized the lights were coming from some kind of manor, built right on the edge of the cliff, overhanging the sea like a sprawling monster ready to dive in the dark waters beneath.

 **Chapter 17 : Declare independence.**

"I think you can put me down now."

"Aye. Anyway, we should rest a little here. And find you some clothes."

"I don't think it would be necessary."

Without understanding, Jamie turned to her and his jaw dropped at the sight of his friend, grinning under her visor as she revealed under his cloak a black dress of fur, whose skirt was cut in thin flaps looking like spider' legs. At her feet, Jamie could see black gaiters and curved shoes of the same colour, and at her head, a great pointed hat. The cloak itself was lined with a glittery purple cloth whose Jamie was sure it was very not there back at the beach.

Before he could react, his friend was already dragging him along by his hand to the mysterious mansion.

Above the front door, they could see a blazon featuring a unicorn that Jamie could not recognize. Under it, the two youths could read:

 _"_ _Diamond school of science. Doctors and scholars, gather here and shelter your knowledge."_

""Doctors"? Do you think this will lead us to something?" Jamie asked his friend while standing on tip-toes to better decipher the inscription.

"There's only one way to know!" Zoe answered, knocking the bronze handle of the door.

After a few seconds, a man opened to them with a defiant face. He was dressed in robes that made him look like some sort of wizard. A pendant with a diamond was hanging on his chest and a big hat, similar to Zoe's one covered the top of his head.

"Err... Hello, could you…" Jamie began, quite ill at ease under the other's man scrutiny.

"Could you help us? We're looking for a man who makes call himself the Doctor…" Zoe cut with a wide smile, pushing Jamie aside.

The man smiled in return.

"Are you an aspiring student? There are a lot of doctors and scholars here, maybe you'll find the one you're looking for. If you pass the test, of course."

"What sort of test?"

"Well, the test for becoming one of us. Let me introduce you to our prestigious brotherhood. Your servant may rest in the kitchens."

"Hey, let me tell you that I'm not…"

Jamie could not end his words as a sour pain rose from his tibia, caused by the foot of Alice.

"He'll follow us if you don't mind." she answered, hiding a chuckle behind her hand.

"What are you doing, lassie?!" he whispered angrily.

"Shush! If we can have a clue to find the Doctor, we'd better play his game, don't you think?"

Jamie frowned a little, but nodded in assent.

The man, who appeared to be the headmaster, guided them through a bright and clean corridor, punctuated by some doors where the two friends could see students, all dressed in the same robes, and all busy in scheduled activities in perfect harmony. In a room, students were all reading, in another, they were all writing, at the same pace, and Zoe could have sworn she had seen them yawn at the same time when they passed through them.

"What are you studying here?" she asked to her guide.

"Physics, medicine, mathematics… All sorts of knowledge! Are you sure you want your servant to follow us? Surely he doesn't get a lot of all this…"

"Hey, I have been in school, too! My father and uncle had even ruled it!" Jamie protested.

"What did you learn? Astronomic? Physics? Maybe Latin?"

"Piping… And I can recite the tales of the most famous clans of our land!"

The scholar turned his back to him with a shrug, mimicked by his peers nearby. The young highlander pouted but said nothing. As long as he had not found anything about the Doctor's whereabouts, he would not show them the physics of the McCrimmon's punch.

"And here is where you'll pass your test. The most important room of our school: the library."

The headmaster opened a door at the end of the corridor, and Jamie and Zoe were treated to the sight of a circular room, empty apart from some students kneeled in circles around the biggest diamond they had ever laid their eyes upon. The size of a pumpkin, it shone all around the room in a myriad of rays, some of them brightening the faces of the students.

"What's this, a jewel? I've never seen one of this size!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Is this really a library? I see no books around here!" Zoe noticed after a quick glance at the empty walls around.

"That's where resides the secret of our school's greatness. In fact, our entire academy had been literally built on this prodigy."

"What do you mean?"

"In this artefact, more knowledge can be found than in all books in the world."

Suddenly, the diamond seemed to move up, and revealed beneath it a massive throne surrounded by what looked like thick vines. Overcoming the throne, a sort of metallic headband was bound to the diamond like an imitation of a crown. And on the throne, was sitting a man wearing the same robes than the other students.

"From time to time, we share what we learned through the great diamond, which shines its own knowledge upon us all in return. In other words, we give it our knowledge, and it gives its own to us all."

The diamond was so big, pumpkin-size like, that it looked almost grotesque on the tiny headband forming the crown beneath.

"How does it do such a miracle? Is that a sort of machine? Who designed it?" Zoe asked, a little more feverishly than she intended to.

"We don't know. As I told you before, this school has been built around this artefact, it has always been here. And we can't take the risk to damage this wonder by… dissecting it like a vulgar specimen."

"Well… I suppose it's a great way to teach children or uneducated people." the young librarian ventured, looking at the device pensively.

"Certainly not! Knowledge can be dangerous if it is too shared. Not to mention the risk to be hung by superstitious lot…"

"Well, it's easy to call people superstitious dumbass if you keep everything for yourselves." Jamie mumbled.

"… but that's enough questions for now, my dear child, you'd better focus: your turn is next." the head master declared, showing the throne, now empty since his former occupant was leaving the room held by two of his comrades, detail which did not go unnoticed to Jamie.

"Alice, I don't thrust this lot. Don't go!" he snapped, grabbing her arm anxiously.

"I know, but I'm curious to see this, and if it helps us to find the Doctor, it could be worth the try."

"No, it's not." his grip tightened.

"Jamie, please… I… need to clear up all this."

Jamie watched her for a moment. She never seemed this childish and frail than now. But she was also a good friend he could rely on as much as she could rely on him.

"I'll watch your back." he stated, seizing her shoulders.

"Of course!" She fondly squeezed his arm with a smile, and hurried to the throne where she sat down, her hat on her knees.

Some vines put down the crown on her. To Jamie, they looked like snakes coiling around their prey. He tapped the handle of his dirk nervously.

The diamond began to shine, and little by little, images appeared on its facets, images Jamie did not understand. It seemed not to be the case for the scholars, however, even if some parts of the jewel were still showing nothing but fog.

"What a beautiful equation! Utterly brilliant!" one exclaimed behind Jamie's back.

"I've never seen this side of this planet before."

"This child is perfectly focused! Maybe even better than us!"

"We can't wait my child! You must share all this with us!" the headmaster exclaimed, clasping his hands in delight.

"Hey! My friend is tired and she has passed your bloody test, that's enough now!" Jamie said harshly, pointing Zoe's pallid face.

"Young man, I expected nothing else from someone more preoccupied by blowing flutes and fairytales than by real knowledge. Stay away from this" the headmaster replied annoyingly.

To Jamie's horror, the vines tightened around Zoe's wrists, and the throne began to sink down. The young highlander rushed to the device, only to see his helpless friend disappear under the ground of the so-called library. Shoving away the indignant students, he raised his dirk, ready to stab wherever it would be necessary, when the shining diamond started to turn on itself, faster and faster. A powerful ray of light hit his hand, forcing him to drop his weapon.

"It's a defence mechanism, you stupid animal!" Jamie heard behind his back.

He dodged narrowly another beam, and stared in shock at the deep burn it left on the wooden planks of the room. The students had all disappeared. He ran to the door, his life literally depending on it, but as much as he persisted, it stayed closed. Locked. Another beam hit the wood just where Jamie's head was seconds before. The only way out was the window at the other side of the room, overlooking the sea. He had no choice.

He ran and jumped through the glass wall just when a last hit from the diamond made it split in a thousand of little pieces.

The shock nearly knocked him out when he hit water, but Jamie blessed his luck not to have broken his neck on underwater rocks. Struggling against the current, he only found respite when his hands gripped some sort of dried seaweed, hanging from the entrance of a cave five meters above him. Gathering all his remaining strength, he hauled himself up onto the rocks with the help of this improvised rope, until he finally reached what he hoped to be a shelter.

He swore when, crawling over the opening, he lost his balance and fell loudly in a small pool of sea water, surrounded by more dead plants. Wet and exhausted, he stumbled out and sat against one wall, looking at his surroundings as he got his breath back.

His eyes widened when he realized, in the dim light of the moon coming from the outside, that the same vines he caught a glimpse back in the library were running everywhere around him in the cave. Suddenly, he felt something squirming against his back, and jumped, dirk his hand, ready to blow anything lurking in the dark. He saw nothing however, except the vines, which were now dried and shrivelled right where his back was resting. Jamie could not exactly figure what could have caused such decrepitude, but he had no time for this. The pool suggested this cave might be partially submerged at high tide, and most of all, he had to save Alice at all costs!

Skimming the walls for a way-out, he stumbled on something soft. Crouching, he recognized Alice's hat, which seemed to have tumbled down a sort of spiralling tunnel he'd surely missed in the half-darkness of the cave otherwise. Resolutely, he put the hat on his head and entered the tight path.

Further in the tunnel, he found one of her shoes, then the other, and finally her – well, his- cape, hanging to some more vines. He was on the good track, he thought, progressing with a renewed vigour as he tied the cloth on his damp shoulders. Vines became thicker and intertwined more tightly than ever as he climbed up, using them for a guide through the now complete darkness… until, finally, a glowing, dim orange light told him he had found what he was looking for.

The glimmer was coming from the roof of the cave, which was probably right under the library, since, bathed in light, was standing the throne, and on the throne, his friend Alice, so tangled in vines that only her visor was still visible under the tight web.

"ALICE!" Jamie cried, nearly throwing himself on the throne in his haste.

If she ever heard his calling, she could not make any movement to show it. The vines were so flexible and resistant at the same time that brute force or the sharp blade of his dirk, were no use to cut a way to freedom for his friend. Jamie knew they weren't invulnerable tough, the vision of the same vines, dried and breakable, coming back to his mind. Near the sea outside, behind his back, and around the pool of sea water.

He sat on the ground to better focus. There was surely something common in those three places that caused this.

The same squirm than before rose from the ground under him. Jamie got up quickly. Once more, the vines were dead right where he was sitting. He dusted his kilt, which was still wet under his palm. He clenched his fist thoughtfully.

Moved by a sudden intuition, he walked to the base of the throne, and wringed conscientiously the hem of his kilt where the vines restraining Alice seemed to take root. Numerous drops of water fell on the plants and Jamie yelped with joy when he saw the vines squirm and shrink right under his eyes, withdrawing slowly from Alice's body.

She jumped instantly, struggling against an invisible enemy to the verge it took some punches and kicks to endure for Jamie before she finally calmed down in his arms.

"Easy, Alice! It's me, Jamie!" he said gently, releasing her at last to rub his bruised limbs.

"Jamie? What happened? How did you find me?"

« I've taken a roundabout road. I wonder if these scholars have ever wandered here. Do they have an idea of what's crawling under their feet? »

"Oh, Jamie they don't know and I can tell you why. This thing… it's a parasite ! It fed on knowledge!"

"What?"

"This diamond… when it was on me… I felt its mind! It's a living thing that drained people's brains. In fact, it gives only the smallest share, and keeps the rest all to itself. And you have no memory of it when it releases you. If you haven't freed me…"

"And you guessed all this? Just by… reading its mind?"

"I knew something like that, back from where I come…" She turned to him all of a sudden. "What did you do to free me?"

"I threw water. It seemed to… burn it."

"Water that burn? Nonsense! Wait a minute! Was it sea or fresh water?"

"Sea water."

"Hmm… probably reacts to sodium chloride. Obviously not a seaweed… But could confirm this thing is more vegetal than animal."

"Whatever it is, Alice, I think we should hurry to the surface."

"You're right. And I know the perfect way to do so. We just have to wait for the right moment, and not empty-handed…"

The headmaster toyed with the diamond at his chest as the throne went back up to its place slowly. Apart from this regrettable incident, this new student could be very profitable for the entire academy, he thought with a grin. But his smile faded, along with the ones of his peers, when he saw, next to his new apprentice, the ruffian they had chased just one hour ago. Stepping forward, he decided to ignore both him and the strange bag he was holding in his hands.

"My dear young lady! We learned a lot thanks to you! From now on, you can consider yourself as an eminent member of our academy!"

"I don't think so. Jamie!"

The boy nodded, and climbed on the top of the throne. There, he opened his bag and flows of water poured on the diamond which glowed dangerously in response. But soon, the jewel dissolved itself along with the vines around it, and after a few seconds, only the metallic headband of the crown remained on the ground of the empty library.

"The diamond?! What have you done?!" the headmaster wailed, followed by the other students.

"Do you think a real diamond would react like this?" Zoe answered, giving Jamie the headband in exchange for the bag which was in fact her hat turned upside down.

"And if I guessed right, you should begin to ask yourself how you never really consider taking a closer look to a so-called diamond which melts in plain sea water."

"It's true, headmaster, I am a botanist and you a mineralogist, even if there was a risk to damage it, we should have studied this thing scientifically!" a middle-aged student said, grabbing the headmaster by his sleeve.

Zoe fingered another student.

"And yourself, are you sure not to have forgotten something important?"

"That's... That's true! Headmaster, there are things in my head, I'm sure to have studied them thousands of time, but I just remember them, right now!"

"This creature brainwashed you, teaching you a little on one hand, and depriving you of a lot on the other, making you greedy for more and more… in fact, you were perpetually learning and forgetting the same things, again and again, like in a loop." Zoe explained, twirling her index finger in the air.

"That's strange, now that I recalled, I think I am a good player at carnyx…" said a timid man in the back of the row.

"I recall I love mathematics, but I am quite good at poetry too…" stated another.

"It's as if he took artistic sense from us too." a third added.

Zoe shook her head, tapping her fingers on her crossed arms. It was almost comical to see this wee lassie gives lessons of logic to all these grown men, Jamie thought, not without delight.

"I have a guess for the reason why..." she told them, "It just gave you what you wanted."

"What?"

"It had understood that you were only interested in specific fields of knowledge, so it simply absorbed what you considered useless, to have better grips on you, and to gain all the more strength." On these last words, the wizards exchanged questionings looks, not paying any more attention to the two youths, until the headmaster turned to Zoe with eyes filled with ecstatic admiration.

"We owe you more than all the gathered knowledge of this academy, is there something we can do for you?" he declared with grandiloquence.

Casually, Zoe put her little hand on Jamie's shoulder. "It was a great luck that Jamie was here to save me from this monster down there. He deserves your gratitude."

The young highlander, who was still busy putting the metallic headband in his sporran, lifted his head, and slightly blushed in embarrassment at all the eyes turned towards him. But he hesitated only for a second.

"Well… could you tell me if you have ever been visited by a man who makes call himself the Doctor? He's quite short, with black hair and blue, twinkling eyes. He's often wearing a black stove hat and a cape just like yours and mine. He knows a lot about medicine and stars, and uses to play the recorder…"

"I regret, my dear boy, but no one like this has ever come to us, yet I'd be glad to meet someone this educated…" the headmaster replied with a benevolent smile.

Jamie looked away, taking a sudden interest to the wooden planks of the room.

Zoe patted his arm.

"Cheer up, Jamie, we will find your Doctor, I guarantee it to you!" she said to him warmly.

"Don't worry, Alice, it's just… I know it's dark outside, and you must be tired, but… can we just leave now?" he asked in a small voice.

"The sooner, the better!" she answered, leading him gently by the hand to the front door while he rubbed his eyes with the other.

Later, Jamie's damp fingers filled the air with the sound of bagpipes while the two youths walked away from the mansion, the headmaster waving at them until the mist of the night concealed them both to his sight.


	18. Chapter 18: Symptom Of The Universe

The mist lifted, revealing a pallid moon shining on a deserted moor, and the glittery gloves and straps of Zoe's new leather catsuit.

"I really wonder how you're doing this..." Jamie said, scratching his head with perplexity.

Truth is, Jamie was asking a good question, a question that crawled in Zoe's mind since she had been this tin cybermat. It was of little doubt for her that Alice was doing all this since the beginning, but she had never intended such changes in her calculations. Could this be an unexpected side-effect of working with cerebral waves, versatile matter as it may be? Did she act randomly or purposefully? Could she, Zoe, influence her changes of form in a way or so? And to what extent?

"Well... I don't really know... I think it's like your sporran, a kind of gift from a special someone..." she simply answered, hoping this would satisfy her friend.

But Jamie did not seem to have heard anything at all. He was standing several steps behind, motionless and slack-jawed, his eyes riveted on something aloft.

"Jamie? What's wrong?"

He fingered a point in the sky.

"The stars... They're... _moving_!'

 **Chapter 18: Symptom of the universe.**

Zoe nearly tore off her visor at the sight of the new constellation which was now adorning the heavens. And Jamie was right: it was moving, suggesting the shape of a reared up unicorn. Fascinated, Zoe saw it run and jump around the moon, until it melt all at once in a spectacular meteor shower. The spectacle would have been magnificent if it had not been followed by a loud explosion that shook the moor so violently the two friends were thrown to the ground and out of their reverie.

When the calm of the night was restored, they lifted their heads slowly and gasped in amazement: right in front of them had grown a gigantic tower, surrounded by huge spiralling pipes leading to its top, all lightened by some sorts of opals as large as their heads.

"Could it be the stars we've seen falling?" Jamie hypothesized, as they got up slowly.

"I don't know... But look! There's something written on this one!"

She showed a larger opal, inlaid like the others, at the start of the pipe.

"A reward awaits those who reach the top," they read out loud.

They looked at each other, and at the tower, so high the summit was disappearing behind a curtain of clouds.

Jamie was the first to break the silence.

"Well, if there is any chance to find the Doctor up there, I see no reason to lose any more time."

And matching his words with action, he resolutely began his ascent.

"Wait for me!" Zoe yelped, following closely.

Despite the luminous opals, they barely saw where to put their feet on their way up. The green of jade pipe they walked upon was quite large enough to climb without the help of their hands but slippery, and shrouded in rings of clouds that prevented them to get an exact view of the distance they travelled. They walked an hour like this until Zoe, panting, pulled on Jamie's sleeve slightly.

"Do you think we're still far from the top?"

"I don't know... it's impossible to see it from here, because of these clouds."

"Let's look behind, then, the sight is clearer now and it may at least give us an idea."

They did so... and noticed to their stupor and consternation that they were only two or three meters above the ground!

"But that's impossible! How can have we covered so little after walking so long?!" Zoe uttered, eyes wide behind her visor.

Again, the wild grasses of the moor disappeared behind a curtain of dark clouds. Jamie looked upward, a bit ill-at-ease, and shrugged.

"Well, we can't just give up yet!"

Zoe nodded, tearing herself from this disheartening sight, and the two friends resumed their progress on the pipe at a faster pace, despite their tiredness and the foggy night. From times to times Zoe felt like a slight trembling in the cylinder under their feet, but it was probably an illusion due to her growing exhaustion. At one moment, Jamie caught a glimpse of a great shadow passing to their left, but it was probably due to his growing anxiousness.

After half an hour, they stopped once more. They still could not see the sky above, but the clouds under them moved apart...

...and revealed the same view of the moor than before.

"What sorcery is this?!..." Jamie exclaimed, his eyes blinking with incredulity.

"There's surely something tricky about this... And one thing is sure, we'll never reach the top at this rate," Zoe replied, hands on her hips.

"What can we do?"

"I've got an idea: you resume the ascent, while I stay here and try to see what happens."

Jamie shook his head and sighed.

"I don't like to leave you all alone in a place like this... but I guess we have no choice... Take care!" he answered with a pat on her shoulder, and turned around to follow her plan.

Now alone, Zoe could only hear his steps, first loud and clear in the darkness around her, then fading as Jamie was getting away on his track, then... louder and clearer again? She stood up. Was there something that could have forced his friend to go back? However, the sound was not coming from a higher point of the pipe she was resting on, but just on its left, where there was nothing but the abyss!

She, herself, felt something strange in her chest, like she was in an elevator moving up to the top of a building. And indeed, it was what happening, she realized, when she saw herself lifted above the layer of clouds which surrounded her a minute ago! The pipe was moving! And at its left, she caught a glimpse of Jamie's silhouette, walking on his own part of the pipe which was going down immutably... Soon, the two tubes would meet each other and she had to act quickly.

"Jamie! Don't go any further! Come back to me!" she shouted, her hands in bullhorn.

She saw him stop and run down his path, calling for her.

"No Jamie, not this way! Follow my voice!"

Finally, his confused face pierced the clouds, just when the two pipes were coming side to side.

"Jump! Now!" Zoe cried, holding out her hand.

Without being asked anymore, Jamie obeyed and crossed the gap between the ramps in one leap, but, poorly prepared, his jump would not have been enough to avoid a mortal fall if Zoe did not grab his hand just in time. He struggled against the slippery surface of the pipe to haul himself onto it, while she struggled not to be dragged by Jamie's weight which almost dislocated her arms. When they finally managed to reach safety, the pipe had long ceased moving, leaving them this time at a significantly higher level of the tower.

Jamie breathed heavily, his head tilted back.

"So far so good. But how can we reach the summit now that we know this thing is cheating on us? I feel like a mouse trapped in the rings of a snake!"

Zoe bolted up.

"That's it! Jamie, you're right! There must be in fact only one "pipe", which rearranged itself around the tower when it detects our footsteps! And like a snake, it moves quite slowly. That, along with the darkness and clouds, is why, we didn't notice it immediately."

Jamie looked at her with perplexed eyes.

Zoe smiled.

"I'll show you. Hand me your knife, please."

Jamie obeyed, and Zoe picked one of the wires at her neck, that she wound loosely around the entire length of the blade.

"Suppose, Jamie, that your knife is the tower, and this wire, the path we follow, spiralling like this."

"Aye ?"

She put one finger on the wire.

"Now, suppose this wire is the two of us walking our way to the top." she said, as she began to run her finger along the upper part of rolled wire.

Jamie nodded.

"Now see what happens if I switch this part, where my finger lays, with some part below."

She did so, untying and rearranging the curls of the wire so that the part where her finger was put was, now, way lower on the length of the blade.

Jamie's eyes widened.

"So you say that we are, in fact, on the rings of some giant snakeish beastie that plays on us since the beginning?!"

Zoe nodded, looking like a schoolgirl proud of the success of her presentation.

"...That's good to know, but it doesn't solve anything..." Jamie sighed.

"We know the tactic of the foe, Jamie, it's the best starting point to work out a logic and efficient response!" Zoe answered cheerfully.

Jamie gave her a faint smile, then rubbed his chin between his thumb and his forefinger.

"You say it's slow... So, if we'd find a way to be faster than it, you think we could have a chance?" he finally asked.

"Maybe..."

"Do you think a horse would make it? But how to find one in such a place?" Jamie said, crouching to look under their pipe as if some stallion was waiting to be found beneath.

Zoe, for her part, wrapped her arms around her knees and focused hard on this new problem, so hard she felt like a tickling at her neck. Another black cloud passed through them and moved away, but the solution seemed not ready to unveil itself.

"Alice!"

"Not now, Jamie, I'm…"

"Alice, look out! Behind you!"

She turned around, and was treated to the sight of an enormous purple motorbike, whose front was decorated with a chrome-plated reared up unicorn. A long wire came from the handlebars, which, as she discovered it, was in fact connected somewhere behind her visor.

"What's this thing? Did you do that Alice?" Jamie questioned nervously.

Of course it could be a new trick from this infernal tower, Zoe thought, looking at the unicorn suspiciously. But it could also be another gift, confirming her theories, she pondered, feeling the wire in her gloved hand.

Carefully, she got on the engine, feeling like a mouse trying to ride a Percheron. It took her only a few tries to start it, though, and soon familiar motor noise and smell of gas filled the air, complete with smoke.

"You know how this thing works?" Jamie asked, clearing his throat in discomfort.

"I think so. Sit behind me and hold your kilt tight!"

As soon as Jamie did so, the motorbike reared in a loud roar, and almost threw the two youths over the tower.

"Are you trying to kill us, woman?! I thought you knew how to work that wheeled tin box!" Jamie barked, livid.

"Stop panicking, I just have to find the corresponding commands, and it would be a lot easier if you released my neck, you're strangling me!"

Jamie pouted and turned his back to her, gripping the back seat firmly. He just had time to hear his friend exclaimed "I knew it! Just like in games!", when suddenly, the pipe under him passed through his eyes at a terrifying speed.

He looked back at his friend: focused on its commands, she was riding this thing like a witch would ride a broom. And maybe that what she was, all things considered. Maybe that's why she knew the Doctor who was so much like a wizard himself? He let his mind wander around this as they were getting nearer to their goal at each second.

From time to time, Jamie noticed the engine was heavy enough to crush the strange opals under its wheels, and that these opals released a sort of gas when they burst. He did not pay a lot of attention to it, when suddenly; one opal was forcefully ejected from its frame right towards them! Jamie just had time to cover his face with his sleeve when the milky sphere hit him and burst in a cloud of odorous gas.

Jamie coughed and tears filled his eyes. Contrary to the metal broom's one, he knew that smell: sulphur! He glanced around him and at Alice, realizing instinctively the danger if one of these spheres happened to hit her at this speed.

Another sphere shivered. How long were they from the top of the tower now? he wondered, looking desperately for a way to protect themselves. His eyes fell on two leather bags at the sides of the engine. The first one was empty, but the other contained a sort of long gun, made in an unknown colourful matter that had nothing to do with metal.

Hoping it was loaded, Jamie aimed the sphere which was now flying to them and shot. A jet of water came out from the barrel and hit the projectile, making it burst before it reached its goal. Jamie looked at the weapon with perplexity. Perhaps this thing was some sort of relic, filled with holy water?

He did not have much time to question further, however, as more spheres already dislodged themselves and attacked altogether. Jamie shot each of them efficiently. He looked at Alice, still focused on her riding and smiled with satisfaction. If he was good enough, she would not even notice the threat upon them.

Another wave came to them, so numerous this time that Jamie had to open his umbrella despite the accelerations of the engine just in time for some spheres he missed to crash on its rainbowy surface.

Moonlight suddenly appeared. Jamie turned back: they had passed the clouds surroundings the top of the tower! He shot down another wave of glowing spheres, whose one nearly hit Alice's neck. But he was becoming exhausted, and who knows if his waterarm was blessed with infinite ammo?

...And then they slowed down. Jamie looked above Alice's shoulder and saw, towering the summit, the enormous stone head of some kind of dragon, whose skull was protected under a layer of scales dotted with a myriad of the same luminous opals than downstairs.

Jamie just had the time to realize the pipes were, indeed, the rings of a giant beastie, when all the opals sprung all at once from the helmet of the monster's statue.

Alice gasped in surprise. In a fraction of a second, Jamie tore off the cable linking her to her bike, and jumped to the side, dragging her along with him just in time to avoid the spheres crashing loudly on the deserted motorbike, which exploded quasi instantly at the impact.

The blast was strong enough to throw them over the edge, but they held on, and finally stood up, dazed and confused, on their ultimate goal: the roof of the tower, which presented nothing to the sight but a bare circular surface, paved with square bricks of stone reminding a giant building-block set.

Staggering, Jamie raised his fist to the dragon head.

"Alright! We've played your little game and we've won it! Now where's the reward? Is the Doctor trapped in your rings like we are?"

A grating came to the ears of the two friends, and the dragon's mouth opened slowly, revealing a long object between its fangs, shining under the full moon.

Jamie and Zoe looked at each other, and advanced to the dragon's head. Despite his tiredness, Jamie managed to take Zoe on her shoulders so she could retrieve the mysterious artefact. He was more confused than ever, though, when she finally showed him what for they had fought so hard.

It was a long metallic cylinder, segmented at several places, with a point at its thinner end, and others decorations here and there from which he could make no sense.

The voice of his friend interrupted his reflections.

"I don't understand. What a rocket model is doing here and how can it help us?"

The young highlander was about to reply something when a terrible jolt shook the tower and made them fall on the stone floor.

"The tower is falling apart!" Zoe exclaimed, looking over the edge.

Putting the mini-rocket in his sporran, Jamie joined her, and saw the rings of the dragon tighten around the tower with such force the walls were cracking from all sides.

They ran to the "pipe" they came from, only to see it cave in right before their eyes. They were trapped, and the rims of the roof itself were crumbling off at a fast pace.

Clinging to each other at the centre of the place, they could only stare, helpless, at the head of the dragon when it broke itself from its neck and fell right between them, separating them and dealing the final blow to the tower which collapsed completely like a house of cards.

The two companions, in their fall, looked at each other, reached out in vain for each other, and disappeared to each other's sight when the mist engulfed them both in the starry night.


	19. Chapter 19: It's A Long Way To The Top

He was dozing, snuggled on Jamie's lap, the young highlander running a hand absently in his mop of black hair. Jamie was beginning to drowse himself, when he felt some cold fingers twirl gently around his own bangs.

"What are you doing?" he snapped, his eyes flying open.

"Sorry, lad..." Jamie heard in response, but he could not see who was talking anywhere.

"Where am I? Where are you?"

"Ye're in my ship, or I'd rather say what remains of it. And I'm what remains of the captain."

 **Chapter 19: It's A Long Way To The Top.**

Sat on a dusty bed, Jamie looked around at the decaying cabin surrounding him, and gasped when a moustache, then an entire man literally appeared right before him. Pale and skinny, dressed in flamboyant, but faded clothes, he was the perfect image of the ghost ship pirate, apart from his kind, twinkling eyes.

"Captain Angus The Fool at yer service." He took off his feathered hat. "Congratulations, me heartie, ye're the first not to scream in terror at my sight! ...Well, in fact ye're the first to see me since my little accident. "

Jamie shrugged in bravado.

"How did I get there?" he asked, getting more confident now that he could withstand the gaze of his host.

"I was hoping ye'd tell me! I found ye lying unconscious on the upper deck, just after I've crossed one nasty pea soup out there." the ghost responded, vanishing again behind Jamie's back.

"Och aye, I remember now! The tower... the dragon... What a sore loser!... And then the fall and..." He bolted from the bed. "Alice? Where is Alice?"

"Who's that?"

"Listen, was there a young girl with me?"

"No, lad, but don't worry, ye're a very satisfying guest yourself."

Jamie felt a tap on his rump.

"Och stop this, I have to find my friend." he replied impatiently at the chuckle behind his shoulder.

The young highlander opened the door of the cabin, but nearly fell backwards at the sight of the bow of a ship, floating in a sea of stars he could have taken a much closer look if he had made one step further out of the cabin. Dumbfounded, the boy could only look at the majestic frame of the vessel pass through the gap before him, his fires lightening her helm… and her missing rear.

"Ye won't go anywhere, my boy, this ship is cursed." the ghost declared, reappearing with a hand on his shoulder.

"What's this madness? We're flying? Where's the rest of your ship? And what's this half-one right before us?"

"That is the rest of my ship! Let me tell ye..."

Jamie sat on a huge chest in a corner of the cabin, unable though, to tear his eyes from the incredible view of the floating half-boat outside.

"Many years ago, I found this treasure chest you're sat on, floating in the middle of the sea at a misty night like this. You see this strange lock, here between your lovely knees? Despite all our efforts in brute force and lock-picking, we have been unable to open it. Our only clue was engraved on this bronze plate under the lock, saying that only a golden haired woman should be able to break the lock and reunite what had been torn apart. Stirred up by this promise of fortune, I decided to embark on a journey to find this mysterious golden girl! Alas... my crew, fed up with my countless failures, claimed this chest was cursed, that I really was a fool, and that we'd better raid some towns for better profit. I let this old friend answer for me!"

With a grin, he patted a pistol at his belt.

"And what happened next?"

"These rats deserted the ship during the night, leaving me alone on board. But I was Angus The Fool, mad enough to try to handle a vessel all by myself, and I did it! Lad, I did it!"

"Really?!"

"Well... for two hours... A terrible storm came and I released the helm to secure my treasure. All I recall after is a loud cracking noise, water everywhere, and here I am living-dead, drifting between heaven and earth with the two halves of my broken ship floating around each other but never touching, never joining, as if they were taunting me deliberately. Maybe my crew was right after all..."

He was shaking her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up. In vain. She heard another voice calling her gently, but it's only when she felt hands putting a warm cloth on her shoulders that Zoe blinked at the unknown scenery around her. She was lying on the wooden planks of an unknown room with old and dusty furniture scattered everywhere as if a storm had rampaged the place. She got on her feet unsteadily. The floor was leaning slightly, which confused her even more. How did she land there? And where was Jamie? Was he alright after their terrible fall?

She noticed a little window nearby. She tidied it up with her sleeve and jumped at her reflection: her clothes did not change this time, but her hair was now of perfect gold! Twirling them between her fingers, she pondered about this new mystery when a most strange spectacle appeared through the window and made her instantly forget her reflection.

Before her, was passing the half-bottom of an old ship, adorned with unicorn-shape mouldings. With her missing front part, it reminded Zoe of some giant model-making amateur who would have got bored and did not finish his job.

She rushed to the only door of the room. She had to figure out what was happening in this place.

"You can disappear and reappear, can't you? You never tried to reappear on the other side?"

"Alas, I am branded to this part of the ship, I simply can't do this." the captain replied sheepishly.

"Another thing... why did you tell me all this?" Jamie asked, his legs swinging nervously against the mysterious chest.

A shadow crossed the proud figure of the pirate.

"I told ye, ye're the first face I've seen here for... ages. And ye remind me of someone I was very fond of..."

"Did he leave you too?"

"No… I… I tricked him and left him behind in the harbour, with my daughter. I was afraid that something might hurt them during the travel."

"You're a strange man to let your beloved behind you."

"How can I have regrets? What do ye think would have happened if they have stayed with me?" he answered bitterly while his body became translucent.

A deafening silence fell in the cabin. Jamie contemplated the sea of stars once more, and raised an eyebrow.

"Captain?"

"Aye?"

"You say these two halves are always pushing themselves each other, don't you?"

"Aye, aye, boy!"

"But, look at the bow... Doesn't it seem to get closer right now?!"

The captain rushed to Jamie's side, nearly walking through him in the process.

"Ye're right, lad!"

The ghost took a telescope from his coat, and yelled in joy.

"We are saved! It's her! The girl from the oracle!"

He began an old dance on the planks of the cabin.

"Let me see!"

Jamie took the telescope from the hands of the captain, and joined him in his clamors.

"It's her! It's my friend!" he exclaimed with a wide smile.

And indeed, it was her, helm in hand above the figurehead of a glittery tailed mermaid. A wire, coming once again from the back of her visor, was intertwined around the old wooden wheel, repairing it and allowing Zoe to control the half-ship without difficulty thanks to an anachronistic but useful propeller. She smiled in delight and pride: Alice thought of everything to get them out of trouble.

As she got closer of the floating stern, she caught a glimpse of Jamie waving at her along with a strange man performing some sort of crazy jig. She waved back cheerfully. Now that her hypothesis was proven right, she made make a half-turn to her vessel part, and proceeded backwards to the nave.

When the two parts were close enough, she saw the two men secure them with ropes like one hitch a trailer up to an old car. Leaving the helm, she hurried back to the lower deck and jumped the distance between the two halves to land in Jamie's arms.

"Alice! You're safe!... Well, apart from your weird hair!" he chuckled, rubbing her skull with his fist.

"Shall we expect less from a legendary girl, lad?"

Puzzled, Zoe turned to the unknown man who pronounced these words. Jamie put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"Alice, this is the captain Angus the Fool. He thinks you can help him..."

Zoe would have paid a great price to know who engineered a lock like this and how it had come to this place. It looked like one of the devices used to form the pupils back in the academy. A challenge for the untrained, of course, but for her, a mere child's play. She grinned at the dumbfounded faces of the two men looking at her like she was some sort of magician.

"You can open it now. By the way, there was some sort of powerful magnetic device included in the lock, I suppose that's what create these phenomena of floating boats drawing and pushing each other, countered by the combined actions of the gold of my hair and the propeller which..."

But the captain was not listening anymore. His trembling hands were already opening the chest. The two youths surrounded him, and could not hold back a cry of surprise.

The chest was empty, except from a single, green marble, whose cracks shone in the dim light of the vessel's lanterns.

"What is it? Has it some value?" Jamie asked.

The captain took the marble and examined it carefully.

"No, not really. It's a simple marble of glass. Not even a pearl... It's nothing but a mere child's toy."

The captain remained silent for a moment, as long as Jamie and Zoe, rolling the little marble between his pallid fingers. Suddenly, he burst into a loud laugh.

Jamie and Zoe looked at each other in perplexity. Did this last trick of destiny drive Angus the Fool to madness for good?

"Don't worry, children, it's just that... I'm long dead! What do I care for gold and jewels, now? You've given me back my freedom by reuniting my ship and that's more than I could long for. Here, take this, as a memory of me..."

He handed Jamie the green marble.

"Thank you, captain. And now, what will you do? Come back to your friend and daughter?" the young highlander asked, putting the little artefact in his sporran.

The captain put a hand on his shoulder, his eyes suddenly very serious, and for the first time, Jamie shivered under his gaze, even if his smile was still kind and gentle.

"No, my boy. For us, ghosts, who live out of time and space, centuries are like the blink of an eye. Who knows what have become of them now? And anyway, I'm not the man I used to be anymore, what would they do with a ghost like me? I have made my choice years ago, I cannot go back now, like nothing had ever happened, and upset the lives they have possibly built since then or worse..."

"But they may be looking for you!"

"I sincerely hope not." he answered, even if his eyes told Jamie the contrary. "Listen, if one day, we came to be reunited, it will be because it was meant to be..."

"But..."

He caressed his cheek gently.

"... but believe me, Jamie, my sweet child, to force destiny will only lead to tragedy."

On these last words, the captain turned around and looked at the sky through his telescope. Jamie reached out, but finally sat back on the chest at Zoe's side.

"Look, me hearties, the dawn is already here. Arrrh! One can barely see anything in all this fog... but wait! It's lifting already!" the captain exclaimed, twisting swiftly on the balls of his feet to face his guests.

But all he could see was an empty chest. The two youths had disappeared.

He shook his head, and settled up at the helm, smiling at the setting sun. There were so many mysteries all around the world, and nothing as vast as the sea.


	20. Chapter 20: See Me, Feel Me

The pulsation came to their ears, tearing Jamie and Zoe from their slumber. In fact, they did not even remember to have drifted off at all. Sat on a stone, all they could see around them was a thick cloud of mist, so thick in fact Jamie and Zoe could barely notice the latter was now wearing a glittery pointed military cap and cartridge belts. Which did not diverted them from the growing sense of unease which filled their hearts.

Resolutely, they took each other's hand, holding it tightly, and got up to explore their surroundings. But nothing in their wandering could explain this oppressive, sick feeling permeating their minds to the point of nausea. Nothing either to cling on to escape from this pulsation, this four beat pattern coming from everywhere, repeating itself endlessly. Still, Jamie and Zoe advanced, like moths trapping themselves in a bottle while searching for light.

And finally the mist lifted on the moor, revealing the orange sky of the dawn, and a most formidable monument.

 **Chapter 20: See Me, Feel Me.**

At one hundred yards from them stood three gigantic statues of women, holding, intertwined in their fingers an incredible web of strings and wires. Like electric poles, Zoe thought. Like a group of wool-spinners, Jamie thought. Concealed between these statues, the two friends could see the top of a square tower, whose blue walls shone under the rising sun. A faint melody was coming from the tower struggling in their ears against the overwhelming pulsation.

Jamie grabbed Zoe's arm. She felt his hand trembling through her sleeve.

"Alice, the Doctor is here," he blurted out, his eyes riveted on the tower.

"What?! Did you see him somewhere?"

She scrutinized the building in perplexity.

"Och, I don't see him, Alice, I feel him!... I know he's here, trapped in this tower. I have to get there! He's waiting for me!" he replied ardently.

But instead of dashing towards the tower, as he seemed so eager to do, Jamie tore his eyes away from the building to look at Zoe in concern.

"...Listen, you must know there's surely something wrong with this place..." he said, releasing his grip on his arm slowly.

She took it back firmly, and made them resume their walk to the blue fortress in response.

The more they were getting close of the statues, the more Jamie's trembling increased. And each time Zoe looked at them, she could feel the same confusion taking over her own mind, in a singular mix of fear, anger, and revolt. The music was still there however, encouraging them at each step like a crowd of supporters cheering their champions about to enter the arena.

"I'm sure this tune is from the Doctor, trying to help us!" Jamie said with sparkling eyes.

Zoe smiled. Truth was, she was beginning to genuinely believe it herself. Still, her rational mind wondered how they would enter this sanctuary, as she could see no door of any kind behind the titanic statues.

A pull at their necks stopped their advance abruptly. They turned around altogether, and discovered they were tied, like dogs on a leash, by a long wire to a sort of huge metallic chest.

"Where do these wires come from? And this... strongbox? Have they something to do with these statues behind?" Zoe wondered, looking alternately at Jamie and the chest with anxiety.

"What do you mean? I thought these were yours all along, using them on whatever purpose in your nutty brains as usual?!" Jamie replied, wincing when he tried, in vain, to tear the thread off his head.

"Well... more or less..." she mumbled, blushing under her visor.

Jamie could not help but smile at her sheepish face.

"Och, don't worry, I don't really mind, as long as you don't turn me into one strange wee gadget of yours! Now let's see what we can do of that dead weight out there," he declared with a resigned sigh, fingering the chest with his dirk which had proved equally useless against the wires.

Cautiously, the two friends advanced to the mysterious container. No lock or even lid was to be seen on its strangely decorated surface. They reached out, and jumped in surprise when the wires disappeared all at once inside the chest as soon as their fingers brushed against the lid. The chest began to shiver, but did not open. In fact, it rather seemed to literally unfold itself, its decorations clicking and rolling to rearrange themselves in a new, yet oddly familiar shape.

The shape of a unicorn, whose iron coat sparkled as it reared up proudly at the rising sun.

It was a strange beastie, indeed, Jamie thought. All metallic, and whose frame seemed to have been devised by an artist who could only use squares and ellipses to draw his plans. With a snort, the creature moved apart and revealed a man-size rectangular mirror. Holding it before him, the young highlander was looking at himself pensively when Zoe's reflection appeared next to his.

"A horse-robot and a mirror? I don't get anything of…"

She cried suddenly.

"Jamie! Behind us! The ground has disappeared!"

They turned around and saw the truth with their own eyes: right at their feet, instead of the grass of the moor, a wide gap was now surrounding the tower like the moats of an impregnable castle.

"How is it possible? We didn't hear or see anything?!" Jamie said clinging to Zoe as if they would instantly slip in the abyss otherwise.

"If we hadn't been held back by these wires…"

"…we'd have fallen to sure death… which proves who send us this mirror and this animal is a friend," Jamie asserted, looking up at the sky for any black shadow tainting the orangey shade upon them. He then got to the unicorn, which folded down its legs awkwardly to help the young highlander to climb on its back.

"Come on Alice! I see no other way to reach this tower than to thrust this beastie and hope it will jump far enough!" he called out, patting the rump of the unicorn in a clanking noise.

Zoe was already setting herself behind her friend when she suddenly tugged his sleeve.

"Wait a minute, Jamie! The mirror, if you think it's a gift, don't you think we should carry it with us?"

"Och, aye! But it's so huge and heavy!..." he replied, scratching his head ruefully.

At the very moment when Zoe and Jamie fretted over this new problem, wires appeared from the unicorn's flanks, taking the mirror and tying it on the creature's back, right behind Zoe.

"Well... that settles all," Jamie stated with a shrug to an incredulous Zoe. Casting away his own questionings, the young highlander led their mount towards the tower. He had waited long enough, and it did not take much time for the unicorn to gather speed as the chasm was getting closer and closer.

"Hang on Alice!" Jamie shouted out. Hypnotized by the sound of pistons coming from its legs, Zoe could only hold her breath when the unicorn jumped over the edge.

A few seconds passed, and a faint jingling reached her ears from behind. Opening her eyes she did not realize to have closed, Zoe marvelled at the sight of the moor passing below them. Far below them, since they were currently _flying_ towards the tower!

Looking around, she discovered the mirror had disappeared to be replaced by a pair of silvery wings, shining at the still rising sun.

"Look, Alice, the tower! I can almost reach it!" Jamie exclaimed joyfully.

Zoe grinned, as much for the blissful carelessness of her friend as to conceal the fact she had absolutely no idea of what was happening either.

Both of them gasped, however, when the hands of the statue facing them started to move slowly, raising and spreading the wires tangled in its fingers as if she wanted to spin wool. Jamie stopped the unicorn immediately, and the two youths saw a huge disc of glass, tied to a pulley, roll smoothly along one of the wire. A slight distortion of the landscape could be seen through its transparent surface, reminding all the more Jamie and Zoe of a giant magnifying glass.

The disc stopped its course right between them and the head of a statue. Then, one unique eye opened in the middle of the front of the sculpture, gazing at the two fascinated youths while the surface of the disc troubled itself. Zoe screamed.

"Jamie! Watch out!"

The young highlander had already forced their mount to duck. In less than one second, something passed right upon them, blurring the air in its wake.

Jamie and Zoe looked at each other in confusion, then behind them and shivered in horror.

Right in the path of whatever had missed them, a gulf had now appeared in the ground, perfectly circular, and of the same size of the disc of glass.

"This…This thing!..."

"...It makes all that it touches disappear! It's a ray! A disintegrator ray!" Zoe ended in anguish.

Jamie frowned, and the unicorn reared up in defiance.

"I don't know what it is but it won't prevent me to free the Doctor!" he yelled boldly, as their mount resumed their ascent to the tower.

"Too late, Jamie! It attacks again!" Zoe shouted feverishly.

To their utter terror, the two youths could already see the air deform before them once more. Jamie made their mount tilt to the side, but he knew the gesture was desperate.

The ray, or whatever it was, hit right under the wing of the unicorn. However, to Jamie and Zoe's great surprise, it was not the appendage that was erased, but the eye of a statue, whose face was now replaced by a gaping hole!

"Is… is it dead?" Jamie asked, blinking incredulously at the empty head of their enemy.

"It seems so… But how is it possible?" Zoe answered.

"It's just like its own attack had been turned against itself!..."

"Against itself... Could it... Gosh!" – she covered her mouth with her hand in bewilderment - "Jamie, I think that's why the mirror had been sent for!"

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, the "ray" or whatever it is had hit the wing of the unicorn, which is in fact our transformed mirror, right?"

"Err... right, but I don't see the point…"

"Well, that's simple: the ray must have bounced against its surface!"

Jamie looked at the three statues thoughtfully.

"Och, aye… so it cannot stand its own reflection…" he said without taking his eyes off the colossi. Back from the tower, the rhythm of the song was slowly increasing. "…which is all good for me, since before noon, these horrid witches won't exist anymore! Wait for me Doctor! I'm coming!" he then roared in frenzy, while Zoe grasped his shoulder firmly.

They began to fly in circles around the monumental statues, reducing the distance between them and the tower at each turn, becoming the target of another blast at each turn, sending it back to the malevolent statues at each turn, erasing them limb by limb. The music filled the air, louder than ever, as much as it filled the two friends with fervour and energy. It was almost like this melody was fighting the pulsation… and winning over it. However, there still was no way to enter the tower, even if now, of all three statues, only one of them had his head and arms remaining intact.

Gliding on its wire, the disc of glass set up already before its cold and resolute eye for an ultimate shoot.

"Enough of this! Craig n' tuire!"

At Jamie's yell, the unicorn, rushing like a ram, tore off the giant lens with its horn it in a burst of glass, and pinned it straight into the eye of the statue like a butterfly specimen.

Dust burst out like a geyser from the wound. Jamie and Zoe coughed, but kept pushing the horn deeper and deeper in the head of the statue. Two gigantic hands grabbed their mount forcefully and threw it away like a used tissue. But the two youths had restlessly jumped from the danger, and were pushing and clinging firmly to the horn, broken in the process, but still hammered in its target like the needle of a bee.

The hands of the statue rose again, but, this time, only to dissolve themselves in a rain of ashes. The horn soon detached itself, and Jamie and Zoe fell to their fate, Jamie still gripping the broken lens as their last foe scattered itself in agony. The air was thicker than ever. So thick, in fact, that Jamie and Zoe did not really feel like they were diving to a certain death. They were more floating, in fact, like feathers in the wind, in the midst of ashes flowing everywhere, covering them with a layer of grey dust.

Jamie was the first to touch the ground. Half-blinded by the falling dust, he did not know where he was, or where was Alice. He felt something in his clenched fist. Opening his hand, he discovered a small monocle, shining brightly despite the ashes and soot filling the air. He looked through it, and though he could not find his friend, he could not help but smile widely when he saw, at the other end of the wire at his neck, the tower, standing right before him, its blue square walls surrounded by vines of white roses and thistles glowing through the clouds of cinders.

Entranced, he got up on his feet, putting quickly his new find in his sporran, and headed resolutely towards the now freed building, following the cable like a breadcrumb trail. He could not hear the music anymore, only the pulsation, ringing in his ears stronger than ever, and all his movements were slowed down, like hindered by some invisible but tremendous force. The more he was getting closer, the more effort it took him to move, to the verge he believed his muscles would tear off themselves at each step, but he did not care, since he was now at no more than a couple of inches from his goal. He reached out, and the vines moved apart before him, revealing two great doors of the same colour than the walls of the tower.

And then he collapsed, unable to make one more move. Teeth gritted, he crawled on the dusty ground, hauling himself at his wire like one would do with a climbing rope in a desperate struggle against the weight of his own body. Suddenly, two hands gripped his wrist, and did their best to get him back on his feet. He rose his head, and was granted to the sight of his friend Alice, as grey as him, smiling despite her obvious exhaustion.

Holding to each other, they finally took their final, unsteady steps to the tower, and Jamie realized that a second wire ran out of the edifice to Alice's neck. Gathering all their remaining strengths, they pulled the great doors, which opened inch by inch on a blinding white light.

To Jamie's eyes, ten pairs of hands opened to him, greeting him and dragging him along. Trustingly, he let himself be carried inside, followed by Alice. The doors closed on them both. Shortly after, the four walls of the tower collapsed like a pile of wooden blocks.


	21. Chapter 21: Voyage To Avalon

Jamie opened his eyes on an iron ceiling. Resting on one elbow, he looked around and realized he was alone in a long corridor of metal, bathed in white light. Looking at himself, he noticed he was now wearing new kilt and shoes, with a strange wool shirt that stretched under his fingers. However, he found no trace of his sporran or umbrella.

« Is this… the land of fairies?" he wondered.

He heard hooves coming from the end of the corridor, and soon, a white unicorn appeared before him. Jamie smiled.

ooo

Zoe opened her eyes on an iron ceiling. Resting on one elbow, she looked around and realized she was alone in a long corridor of metal, bathed in white light. Looking at herself, she noticed she was wearing a sparkling cat suit. However, she found no trace of her visor on her eyes.

"Is it some sort of IA generated virtual reality?" she wondered.

She heard steps coming from the end of the corridor, and soon, the frame of a masked man appeared before her. Zoe smiled.

 **Chapter 21: Voyage to Avalon**

"Oh, it's you again? I'm glad you made it!" Jamie said, caressing the head of the creature where the steel horn had come back into place.

"Have you seen my friend Alice?"

The unicorn swung its head and turned around.

"You want me to follow you? All right!"

Jamie settled side-saddle on its back.

« I think I'd like this design better, more comfy, don't you think? » he commented light-heartedly, while letting his new mount guide him through the unknown.

ooo

"You're… Karkus? I didn't know you were real!"

"My dear little Zoe, does it matter I am real or not as long as I am by your side?" he replied proudly with hands on his hips.

"Well, I suppose you get a point… Anyway, have you seen my friend Jamie? You can't miss him, he's wearing a skirt..."

"No, young lady, I haven't seen him, but don't' worry: from now on, I will lead you to the next step of your journey!" he answered, crouching before her.

Zoe set herself on his shoulders with a giggle, and let her old friend guide her through the unknown.

ooo

After going through an endless maze of corridors, the unicorn stopped in front of a double door. Jumping on his feet, Jamie pushed them cautiously, and was treated to the sight of a round room with a hexagonal device in its centre. His face lightened when he saw his sporran hanging to a coat rack nearby.

ooo

After going through an endless maze of corridors, Karkus stopped in front of a double door. Jumping on her feet, Zoe pushed them cautiously, and was treated to the sight of a round cockpit with a hexagonal control panel in its centre. Her blood ran cold when she saw Jamie turning his back to her at the other side.

ooo

Jamie heard a rustling behind him. He drew his dirk, and turned around the steel hexagon cautiously. Zoe, hidden behind, followed his movements in the opposite, crawling and holding her breath, terrified by what could happen if he ever saw her unmasked face before he got to meet her with the Doctor.

After some minutes of this thorough inspection, Jamie, half reassured, sheathed his weapon, and took back his sporran. To his great confusion, the inside was now perfectly normal, and empty, except of Fiona's doll, and a curious metal disc, pierced in its centre. Zoe's eyes widened with stupor. What such an obsolete thing like a DVD was doing here? Helpless, Jamie tried to push some buttons and levers on the control panel, leaving both the fur pocket and the disc aside. Zoe noticed he did not pay any attention to what looked like a slot-in among the apparels. Of course, Zoe thought, Jamie, like most of the youths of her time, could not know how to use such an old-fashioned relic. But she surely does! Step after step, she got closer of her target, until she could grab the disc in one swift movement. Then, while Jamie was still focused on his vain task at one other end of the console, she discreetly inserted the disc which disappeared in the device with a slight humming noise.

Jamie tensed at the sound, and Zoe rushed back to her hideout, doing her best to keep perfectly still and silent. Then, another noise and a flash of light came from like a sort of square window to Jamie. On the pane of glass, the following words appeared:

 _Welcome to the Blue Box Core._

The letters soon faded away to be replaced by some sort of old movie. Behind Jamie's back, Zoe stared at the antiquated tv screen, eager for long-awaited answers, but the mysteries seemed to thicken a little more instead when Jamie began to fidget at the screen.

"Ben? Polly?"

He then smiled broadly, putting his hands on the glowing glass.

"Och! The Doctor! Is he behind this window? Why is everyone gray? Have they been ash-covered too?" he said, examining the TV from every angle.

Zoe looked at him and the screen with perplexity. Why make such a fuss about old video pictures? Was he this ignorant of outdated technologies? She, however, shared his confusion about the Doctor: what was he doing in this video?

"Doctor, are you there? Answer me, Doctor!" an helpless Jamie was now calling out. He was knocking on the glass pane of the TV repeatedly, when he suddenly shrank back from the screen, livid.

"Wait a minute? That's _me_?!"

Zoe's eyes widened. It was not a mere resemblance; Jamie was really on screen, and visibly meeting the Doctor for the first time in an unknown place. Fascinated like preys under the gaze of a snake, the two youths could not help but stay still as new images appeared, bruising their minds for what seemed hours. Jamie shivered when he saw himself enter a miniature version of the blue tower. Zoe shivered when the tower disappeared in the mist. Jamie marveled at the size of the creatures swaggering around. Zoe marveled at the miracles of alien technology. Zoe's heart got warmer when the young girl in the long white dress appeared. Jamie's heart wrenched when the young girl left. Zoe held back a cry of astonishment when she recognized herself on the screen, reliving in turn her first encounter with the Doctor. Jamie held back his hand at the view of himself and the Doctor holding each other tightly. Zoe covered her mouth once more when the blonde woman photographed her. Jamie covered his mouth as tenuous, shameless thrills ran along his spine when his fingers brushed against the head resting indignantly on his lap.

When they finally saw the Doctor spinning in despair to an unknown fate, Zoe could not take it anymore, and slowly rose from her hideout behind the console. Jamie turned around at the noise, and Zoe's heart broke at the blank, lost look on his face.

« I'm sorry, Jamie, I never intended to make a fool of you, I didn't know… » she said in a strangled voice.

« …Zoe. »

"…If I had made you call me Alice all along, it was… I thought it was necessary, logic !..."

"Zoe… Where's the Doctor?" he asked with glistening eyes.

"Jamie…"

« I was right, wasn't I? The Doctor had been imprisoned somewhere on earth. But where is he now? Where is he?"

Without thinking, Zoe made a few steps, and opened her arms. He fell on his knees instantly, hiding his face in her shoulder. She, herself, did her best to prevent his sweater to get damper.

« I don't understand. It's like what we just saw had been lived by two other persons... It must be a trick or something" she mused.

"No, Zoe, it's us! I feel it's us. I know it's us," Jamie answered hoarsely in the crook of her neck.

"Yes… I feel it too", she replied, eyes still shut. "…But… these memories can't be only ours, can't they? Or else, how did we learn what happened to him after we… left?"

Jamie raised his head shyly.

"You mean… these moving pictures could be _his_ memories?"

She did not answer.

"So he can't be far! After all, even if she's different we still are in the Tardis, aren't we?"

"Yes, but…"

"Listen! You, Zoe, you stay here, while I look for him in the corridors, right?"

"Jamie, wait!"

But, like a shadow, the young highlander had already disappeared behind the double doors.


	22. Chapter 22: Caught Somewhere In Time

The 60's song grew louder and louder in his ears, repeating itself endlessly until it finally woke him up. The Doctor pushed a lever abruptly, turning off the song for good, and adjusted his bow-tie nervously. He was furious at himself to have confounded the stabilisator one with the alarm-clock one in the midst of a stellar storm, but at least, he was alive and safe, and he had every reason to believe it was the same for his Tardis.

...Until he took a closer look at the console room around him.

 **Chapter 22: Caught somewhere in time.**

A shiver ran through his spine. Something was different, despite the familiarity of the scenery. It was not the usual change of shape it had gone through so many times before, it was something else, something more unstable, more _fleeting_. He tried to look at the scanner to have a clue about where and when he had landed, but it seemed to be out of order, as all he could see was a blurred screen.

He retched suddenly, and all became clear: he was the target of some mental attack! He focused immediately, trying to erase his psychic presence to whoever was assaulting his mind. Eyes tight shut; he reached for the console and pulled some levers feverishly. But it only got him an awful grinding noise which echoed in the entire room. The Doctor moaned, holding his temples in pain, and for a brief second, thought he saw thorny vines clutching at the outside walls of his ship, like the fangs of a bird of prey. He focused some more, doing his best to repel the vision from his abused mind. On the verge to puke, he pulled another lever, staggered to the opened doors, and stepped outside.

Though he did not lower his guard, it seemed things were getting worse each second. All around him was nothing but blurred and foggy. A growling humming filled his ears, depriving him of finding his way by hearing. Two indistinct silhouettes passed not far from him, visibly unaware of his presence. He fell on his knees. He and his Tardis were stranded in an unknown place, where his mind and senses were brutally abused by some unknown force, and no one could be of help or even notice him. There was better ways to start the day. Even on Clom.

Some other silhouettes were dancing in circles around him, and he was about to collapse when another one, far taller and bigger than the others appeared before him.

He was way too exhausted to struggle anymore. Erratic words reached his ears in the midst of the humming, like whispered by a badly set radio.

"...?!...memories...(...).. help...!?... struggle...?!...useless...Doct... !..."

He blinked. Was this thing, whatever it may be, trying to communicate? He felt far too weak to think properly...

"...tor!... master...?!...protect...(.!.)... don't struggle...hurt!"

Out of exhaustion, he fainted, letting all his mental barriers crumble at once...

...

He did not know how much time had passed when, in his drowsiness, a voice called him back.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

He blinked at this voice, or rather, these voices, as he was pretty sure there were three people calling him. A man, a woman, and a child.

He shook his head, resting on one elbow, and, when he opened his eyes, was treated to the formidable sight of a knight in armour. He should be at least three meters tall, perhaps more if he counted the height of his helmet, in the shape of a unicorn head. His armour itself was curiously asymmetric, with one half of the plastron seeming male, and the other female. The male part of the plastron and the lower half of the armour were covered by thick layers of a vibrant blue tartan plaid, adding ever more majesty to the frame of the knight, who, a long spear in hand, seemed to be floating more than standing before the Doctor.

To the timelord's great surprise, the knight bowed respectfully on one knee, reaching out to help him getting up.

"I greet thee, Doctor. I am William Wallace, protector of the beloved ones. The sum of memories have summoned me to protect thee."

The Doctor could barely believe his ears and his eyes. The three voices belonged in fact to one and only being! What sort of new life form was he introduced to today? He couldn't really be the famous Scottish hero, could he? Anyway, he took the hand of the creature before him without hesitation, eager to learn more about him/her/them or whatever, and his/her/their motivation.

"William Wallace, you said? Nice to meet you." He shook his iron hand warmly. "I've known someone who talked a lot about you and your exploits. How unfortunate it had to finish this way... But you said you were here to protect me? Shall I thank you for stopping the mental assault?"

"No, Doctor, it is thou who finally let me come."

Confused by this answer, the Doctor kept silent, looking at the thistles covered grass at his feet, the only thing he could discern in the mist surrounding them.

"... But time is of the essence, Doctor. Now that thy mind is clear, I have to guide thee," William Wallace declared solemnly, taking his arm and dragging him along gently.

"Where are we going actually?"

"To thy stronghold, to begin with."

William Wallace pointed his spear on the Tardis doors behind them. Covered by vines of blue roses, it was all the Doctor could see of his ship, due to the fog's thickness.

Without resisting, the Doctor let himself be guided out of the unknown.


	23. Chapter 23: Enjoy

Zoe shouted out at the intrusion of the two strangers. If one looked properly human, despite his almost comical slack-jawed expression, the other was properly monstrous with its three meters of metallic shell and its spear and horn protruding aggressively.

She cringed back when the creature came to her and spoke with a strange, though soft voice:

"Don't be afraid, young lassie, I am here to protect thee and the Doctor."

"The… Doctor?"

 **Chapter 23: Enjoy.**

Before the timelord could react, Zoe came closer, scrutinizing each inch of his last incarnation from his boots to his bowtie. All of a sudden, she stuck her cheek on the left, then on the right side of his chest and smiled.

"Of course! They have changed your face, don't they?" she asked in a whisper.

"You… you know this?" he replied, arms hanging down, helpless at the vision of his old friend.

She nodded shyly.

He hesitated for a moment, fearing he might be the toy of another twisted illusionist, but his arms tightened around her tiny frame despite himself. Then he burst out laughing, and soon, the Doctor was swinging Zoe in his arms like a little child, both giggling endlessly as the walls of the console room spun faster and faster around them.

When he finally put her down out of dizziness, the Doctor's eyes fell on Jamie's sporran, still on the console.

To his untold question, Zoe answered:

"Jamie is here too. He has gone outside, looking for you."

The Doctor took the sporran in his hands, brushing gently some of its white fur into place, then turned abruptly to Zoe:

"Let's find him then, you will tell me what happened to you both while walking…" he said, as he reached quickly for the double-doors, buckling the little bag at his side.

Zoe followed him closely, and held back a cry of pain when her nose collided against the Doctor's back as he stopped his running all of a sudden. She quickly forgot her aching, however, when she looked at their surroundings.

They were now in a sort of long and large… space, for they lacked of a better word. Indeed, they could not even tell if they were inside or outside, as the sky was concealed behind a sort of giant white dome pierced with round alveoli, exactly like the inner walls of the Tardis, while the ground was covered with grass and thistles. The horizon, and the Tardis itself, were still hidden to them by dense fog.

"Watch out, both of thee!" William Wallace shouted out, as a woman in rags flew right before them with a sinister yell to disappear into the mist.

"What was that?" Zoe asked.

"A banshee, my lady, a messenger of death."

"No, no, no, no no, that's impossible, the Banshees are purely legendary, they don't exist, they have never, they are just perfect folkloric mumbo-jumbo fairytale stuff only existing in your head. Isn't that, right, Zoe?" the Doctor said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I thought so about many things, Doctor, but after what we've seen, Jamie and I, I'm not so sure..." she answered sheepishly.

For a moment, the Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his forefinger. He then sighed heavily, and scanned the misty passage with his sonic screwdriver.

"Okay, you will definitely tell me what happened to you both while we follow this thing, whatever it may be!"

"Alright, but take care not to walk upon one of these little guys when you'll be ready!" Zoe replied, fingering some tiny humanoids with pointed hats dancing around at his feet.

The Doctor did not know what was the most disturbing between what he saw around them and what he heard from Zoe. After they crossed the cloud of mist, they found themselves on an island in the middle of the sea where some sailors were nesting what looked like a giant sea monster aboard a brand new cargo, while Zoe told him about her invention. Another cloud later, they were on the top of a medieval tower adorned with satellite antennas around which a myriad of little fairies were playing and flying at the moonlight, while Zoe told him about her changes of bodies and her first encounter with Jamie. After that, they walked a deserted moor where a red cap was keeping guard of a tractor stranded in place by vines of blue roses, while Zoe told him about the countless perils and creatures she and Jamie had encountered. Everywhere, the sky had disappeared behind the white dome of alveoli, and at each step of their exploring, the Doctor clutched Jamie's sporran tighter in his hands.

When they nearly got knocked down by a horde of sniggering goblins riding a flying saucer, the Doctor turned to their protector.

"Do you know where and above all, _when_ we are?"

"Skye Island, around half of the XVIIIth century, art where and when my master thinks he had summoned me."

Zoe turned pale. The Doctor frowned thougtfully.

"Who is your master?" he asked.

"I sense him very close. Follow me, Doctor," the knight replied, piercing the fog with his spear.

The Doctor and Zoe looked at each other, and followed their guardian.

Two screams granted them when they found themselves in a small, dimly lit room. They came from a woman and a little girl in long dresses, holding each other. With a wide grin, the Doctor put on a feathered beret he found on a gas cooker nearby, and took it off gallantly to the two terrified humans.

"Good morning, I'm the Doctor! Don't worry, both of you, we're just passing by, just looking for someone. Have you seen a young lad in kilt who…"

"Who are you? And what is this new monster behind you?" the woman cut him off, dirk in hand, keeping the little girl behind her in a protective stance that, along with her face, filled the Doctor's mind with a disturbing sense of familiarity.

"Oh, don't worry, that's just William Wallace, and he means you absolutely no harm," the Doctor replied casually.

The ceiling of the room was so low it forced the knight to bend his head. The Doctor wondered why he did not take off his helmet, but did not dare to ask the question.

"William Wallace? But that's impossible, are you a ghost?!" the little girl said, shivering behind the woman's skirts.

The knight bowed in front of her and the woman, who suddenly kneeled before him with joint hands.

"Please milord, whatever you are! My son had always admired your exploits, please, help him, they'll kill him otherwise! Please, save my Jamie!"

The Doctor and Zoe jerked at the same time.

With an unfathomable expression on his face, the timelord helped the woman to get up, and looked straight in her eyes, holding her arms gently.

"Listen, we will help your son, I promise, but there's one thing I would like to know: what's his name? His full name."

"His name is James Robert Mc Crimmon, good sir. His father was Donald Ban, my late husband. But please, whoever you may be, if you are friends of my son, hurry! Fiona's uncle and Jamie's brothers are doing their best, but they won't last very long against such a crowd!"

The Doctor exchanged a look with Zoe, then turned back to Jamie's mother.

"Show us the way!"


	24. Chapter 24: Shadowlaird

Guided by Jamie's mother, the Doctor, carrying the little Fiona on his back, soon arrived with his friends at the entrance of a cavern. Named the Pigeon's cave, the place was presently besieged by a crowd of infuriated people, and guarded by a tall and sturdy man, who rapier in hand, was helped in his task by three young boys of different ages armed with sticks and wooden targes.

 **Chapter 24: Shadowlaird.**

"Leave us the boy, McCrimmon ! You may be the chief of your clan, but you have no right to protect a witch!"

"Shut your bloody mouths, all of you! Lil' Jamie is no more witch than you are brave enough to fight and pass through me!" the strong man yelled, his red beard shuddering with indignation.

"You can't deny the truth, McCrimmon! Look around you!" one villager said, fingering the dome-covered sky.

"I saw the boy dance half-naked at the moonlight!" another added vehemently.

"I saw him talk to black cats and turn himself into a merman!"

"I saw him fly over the ocean on a broomstick!"

"I saw him buggering with furry giants from the mountains."

"Surely he has eaten food from the elves."

"I…"

The leader of the crowd spoke again.

"You see, McCrimmon? It's quite simple: every time there had been trouble around here, this lad was somewhere to be seen! Sometimes even at several places at a time! For a coincidence, that pushes things a little too far, don't you think?! Too bad for him, his magic will cause his doom, for it allowed us to gather despite the distance and hunt him down!"

The yells of the crowd started up again with renewed vigour. The Doctor chose this moment to jump between the two factions and produce his psychic paper with a clear of his throat.

"Your attention please, gentlemen! I came a long way from Glasgow under… err… archbishop's order to investigate about the events on Skye Island."

"Impossible! Because of that dome, no one can sail in or out of the island!" the lead of the crowd said sternly.

"You don't look like a churchman to me." another villager added.

"I can't even read what's on your paper!"

"Hey, maybe he's a witch, too!"

"Wilt thou commit a blasphemy out of uncertainty?"

The last sentence was pronounced by the three times powerful voice of William Wallace, who had emerged from the surrounding mist to the terrified villagers.

"Listen, thy man wilt search the truth for thou, but thou hast to swear not to do any harm to any member of the McCrimmon's clan around here. Or else, thou wilt hast to deal with my wraith!" the knight roared, and at this very moment, none in the crowd would have dare to doubt his words.

Stunned themselves by the fantastic apparition, Angus McCrimmon and his nephews did not react when the Doctor and Zoe took this opportunity to pass through them and the angry crowd. They were about to enter the cave, when the Doctor felt something pull at his sleeve. He turned around, and saw the red-haired little girl who was introduced to him as Jamie's cousin.

"Good sir, Jamie will be alright, won't he? After all, it's nothing but a dream, isn't it?"

The Doctor knelt before her, and put his hands on her arms.

"You do think it's a dream, Fiona?"

"Jamie told me so..."

The Doctor nodded with a smile.

"Then you can trust him. Nothing bad will happen to any of you." he answered, poking her nose gently, and came back to Zoe to get inside the Pigeon's Cave.

Instead of the dark and irregular stone tunnel they expected to explore, the cave was in fact no more spared by the strange phenomena of the outside. Its walls, as white as the dome and pierced by the same round holes, were invaded by vines of blue roses which seemed to grow more vivid at each step they made inside. Curls of mist twirled around the Doctor and Zoe's limbs, and even around the sonic screwdriver the Doctor used to check their way in this most surreal scenery.

It's only when they reached the back of the cave, that the Doctor saw him.

Examining some stuff doll in his hands, he looked almost unreal, with his broad back turned on them, bathed in the white light of floating will o'wisp.

He didn't shift at the sound of footsteps of the Doctor and Zoe, simply tidied the little doll in his shirt.

"Is that you, Ma'? Will you let me get out of this cave at once? I'm not afraid of these boneheads outside!"

The sound of his voice, familiar and clear jolted the Doctor out of his reverie. Zoe approached shyly, grabbing the timelord by his jacket's sleeve.

"Jamie! It's me... and the Doctor!"

"The Doctor?"

Jamie turned around slowly. The Doctor held his breath. Zoe blinked as a will o'wisp passed before her eyes, and noticed his clothes just reverted to what they were before they entered the Tardis. The young highlander made some steps closer, staring at the timelord with perplexity and anxiousness.

"Are you… _my_ Doctor?"

A clattering sound filled the air when the sonic screwdriver fell to the floor.

"Yes, Jamie, I... changed, but... it's me."

Jamie reached out, putting his hands on his shoulders, then on his chest, smiling at the two heartbeats pulsing in his palms.

Overwhelmed, the Doctor looked for Zoe, but distant footsteps told him the sparkling-suited traitor was coming back to the entrance. Fiddling nervously with the sporran at his side, he finally unbuckled it and handed it to Jamie. But the young highlander did not move his hands.

"I... I think it's yours," he said, circling the highlander's waist as he tied the sporran swiftly. He tried to step back, but Jamie's arms did not let him go, and soon, the little pocket between them felt heavier as different, hidden memories of their time together and beyond rushed from the Doctor's mind to the verge he could sense them flowing one after another through his very flesh and bones.

Amid the clouds of mist twirling around them, the Doctor's body was a mix of familiar and new, shifting under Jamie's fingertips and lips. Jamie nearly cut himself when he hugged the ten pounds skinnier frame, then nibbled his nine hundred years old ear lobe gently, revelled in eight more romantic embraces, purred at the voice whispering seven secrets in his ear, shivered under the six moods of his colourful gaze, breathed the five aromas of vegetable of his skin, smiled at the teeth and four layers of curls snuggling up to him, sheltered in the strong arms of the three millennia old lion, blushed as the two twinkling eyes looking up at him made of their shared intimacy a bursting reality from the past, and tangled his fingers in the soft, white hair of his beloved one, which went eleven shades darker as the mist finally lifted on their two frames, still tightly embraced in what now appeared to be the console room.

Astonished, they barely reacted when the double doors burst open, revealing the huge frame of William Wallace.

A hand on his spear, the knight knelt before Jamie.

"James McCrimmon… I, William Wallace, am glad to meet the one who embodied me with his soul."

"William Wallace? My soul?" a puzzled Jamie asked, clinging to the Doctor helplessly.

Before the timelord could figure any sensible answer, Zoe rushed to him, followed by the McCrimmons.

"Doctor ! The villagers up there, they vanished in the mist! And how did that door grow here? Hey wait a minute! Are we..."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, it's worse than I expected..." he muttered to himself. Then, regaining his composure, he raised his arms and voice.

"Ladies, gentlemen and whatever else you might be, I want you to listen carefully! From now on, nobody should pass these doors until further notice!"

Diligently, William Wallace locked the doors with his spear. The McCrimmons looked at each other in confusion.

"Milord, are we prisoners, here?" Angus McCrimmon asked with hands on his hips.

"On the contrary, we have a reprieve while we're still there."

The chief of the McCrimmon's clan was about to reply something, when Jamie's voice was heard, clear and resolved.

"Uncle Angus, I trust the Doctor, more than anyone else. There must be a good reason for him to do so."

For a moment, Angus McCrimmon just looked at him and at his hands on the Doctor's chest. He then patted Jamie's shoulder, and went away to reassure the rest of his family.

"Hey, Doctor, you've got some clever plan about all this, haven't you? Because I have no idea of what's going on… There have been a lot of strange things lately, and it doesn't seem to get better: when I got outside of the console room, looking for you, it was an all different place than the one by which I entered first… the villagers chased me, I took shelter in the cave, and now we are back into the Tardis?!"

The Doctor's embrace tightened slightly around Jamie's hips.

"Well… in fact, we never really left it…"

Jamie and Zoe looked at each other in confusion.

The Doctor sat on an antique wooden chair. At this very moment, to Jamie, even if he looked much younger than the last time they saw each other, he had never appeared so old and tired.

"You two, you know the truth, but don't remember everything, do you?"

"I… I think it's coming back, bit by bit…" Zoe answered.

"Of course. But still, it's extraordinary, even for a 540 years old traveler like me! The timelords' techniques were not something of vulgar brainwashing; it would take an incredible set of circumstances to break such barriers. And yet it happened…"

"What kind of circumstances are you talking about?"

"Those which, to reunite us, have distorted space, time, and even reality. Let me show you. Jamie, come to me."

The young highlander moved at his side and put a warm hand on his neck. The Doctor briefly closed his eyes, as he leant on the sleeve brushing his cheek. He then searched his jacket's pocket, and after he dislodged a little goblin which escaped with sonorous groans, he soon produced a reel of thread, a needle and a handkerchief. There, he grabbed the hem of Jamie's kilt, ignoring in the process the piper's desperate struggle to preserve his modesty by pulling the front of his cloth on his mid-thighs.

"Let's consider this piece of cloth is the world as we know it, with time and space, reality and dream."

The two youths nodded. Then, the Doctor put on a pair of round glasses and threaded the needle cautiously.

"Now, look carefully..."

The Doctor pierced the handkerchief and the wool cloth on several points, then folded them altogether by a pull on the thread, and let it fall on Jamie's thigh.

"So, what do you think of it?"

"It looks rather…messy" Zoe ventured, looking at the kilt, whose pleats fell awkwardly due to the anarchic sewing of the Doctor.

"Yes… and that's the perfect image of what's currently happening to Skye Island. Time and space are no longer existing: you can jump from one place to another, one time to another, as easily as I can touch these two folds of cloths simultaneously now that they are sewed together. As for dream and reality, virtual and real, well, one can tell it's ancient history, as the two concepts have stacked themselves as easily as these two once completely separated pieces of cloth," he said, pinching the jointed handkerchief and piece of wool between his index and thumb.

"What do you mean, Doctor? And what does it has to do with the fact that we never left the Tardis?" Jamie exclaimed.

"How did this happen, Doctor? What are the needle and the thread? And what is the other cloth to you?" Zoe asked with a trembling voice.

"Och, can we stop talking rags for once?" Jamie groaned nervously as he fidgeted to untangle the mess of his kilt.

The Doctor gulped.

"Well, Zoe… you are the needle, Jamie, you are the thread… and my Tardis furbished you with the added cloth."

The two youth remained speechless. The Doctor looked even older.

"Your machine, Zoe, your Alice, is a great invention, born from your fertile mind, which used buried knowledge of the Tardis without even being conscious of it. It is a very powerful one, so powerful it can make appear things from cerebral waves, am I right?"

"Yes, but only on immaterial form…"

"Only because you wanted it this way, Zoe. But one can't control one's mind, right? And your machine is so powerful it had detected not only your most hidden memories, but also those of the Tardis… and of Jamie."

"Doctor…"

The Doctor held his hands of the young highlander as he knelt before him. The locks on their foreheads intertwined when they bent to each other.

"Yes, Jamie, you, so proud and resolute, you never gave up, never got over all this, didn't you? Your mind was relentlessly struggling to force the mental barriers of the timelords, even if you weren't aware of it. You wanted to find me, and Zoe, and your past so much that you drew her and the Tardis here, and gave flesh to your inner struggle. Since you could not really remember, you drained the Tardis' databanks, and recreated the visions crawling in your subconscious into something you could understand. With the combined powers of the Tardis and of Zoe's machine, it was easy, all the more easy than you had the strongest will of us three to achieve your purpose. That's why, Zoe, though forged on your unconscious, you could not master your changes of shape, and there was no more holograms, but true, tangible things. For most of the time, and without even realizing it, Jamie had taken over control of Alice! Same for my Tardis…"

"But Doctor, I began to fight monsters way before I met Zoe!"

"It's of no importance in a place where space and time are fused. When Zoe landed on your time, the cerebral waves of Alice reflected on the past as well as on the future, like a drop of water splashing all around it when it fell in a pond… allowing Jamie to draw you, and my Tardis, in his time."

"In other words… we allowed each other to be here," Jamie noted thoughtfully.

"Yes… It was meant to happen."

"But you, Doctor, you… didn't take any part of all this?..." Jamie asked with a hesitant voice.

"Well… I'm a timelord, and… I'm not exactly the one I used to be back then anymore," he answered.

Jamie looked at him strangely.

"... but It seemed that even my own fantasies got a little role to play in all this…" the Doctor added with an impish grin, leering at Jamie's outfit with twinkling eyes.

"...But we have a more urgent matter to deal with right here and now! As we talk, the island is probably cut from the rest of the world. It's probably for the best, and I'm pretty sure no one has had to really suffer from all this. But I can't guarantee things will go on like this for much longer... The universe is a solid material, but not indestructible."

"But what can we do, Doctor, Alice has disappeared from me, I can't cut her off! I don't even know if I'm still there, back on the Wheel…"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Your original you is still on the Wheel, with the original Alice, I assure you. Things would have reverted to normal otherwise…"

Jamie spoke in turn:

"Is there no other way to "reverse" all this? After all, we're reunited now… My… wish is complete…"

The Doctor shook his head again, but this time with a deep sigh.

"It's not that simple, Jamie. You might not create new creatures or gaps in space-time anymore, but that doesn't mean the old ones will disappear and ceased to damage the world as we know. It's a lot more difficult to wipe out dreams than to give birth to them! Especially when they had turned to flesh and bones… The unconscious is, by essence, a part of the mind that no one can control…"

The two youths lowered their heads sheepishly. The Doctor grasped the shoulder of each of them firmly.

"Jamie, Zoe, I told you: it was meant to happen. You are no guiltier than me, or anyone else around here. The real culprits are long gone, and, there's nothing wrong to fight for something that have been stolen from you! On the contrary you should be proud of it!"

Jamie and Zoe smiled timidly. Smiling in turn, the Doctor clasped his hands forcefully.

"Well, like the Frenchmen said at Waterloo _La situation est grave mais pas désespérée_. If I can fix the Tardis, we might find an issue to our matter at hand. Zoe, I need you to come with me, I need your brains to help me with the old girl! Come along!" he said, taking her by her shoulder to the console.

"What can I do to help, Doctor?" Jamie asked.

"Watch out the scanner. I need you to check the exterior of the Tardis while I'm working! Now, mr McCrimmon, if you'd be kind enough to pull this lever with all your strength…"

A long, creaking noise, almost like a moan of pain, filled the console room behind Jamie's back. Between two jolts of the Tardis, the young piper stared at the screen sending ever changing images of the outside. William Wallace appeared at his side in perfect silence.

"Do you think they'll do it?" Jamie said, as he watched on the once again blurry screen the reflections of his friends and family struggling with the Tardis' commands.

"Thou summoned me so thou and I are one. I know nothing more of this world than thou do."

A whirring noise filled the air, followed by a bang, a lot of smoke and swearing.

"That's what you meant, don't you? About my soul… You knew that I caused all this."

"It took the three of thee to cause this. No more, no less."

"No more… No less…"

Another bang. Sparkles flew like a geyser and nearly hit Fiona's eye. The Doctor shook his jacket to extinguish the little flames licking its hem. Jamie turned to the knight.

"Could you show me the way you came from?"

The knight nodded silently, and, using his spear as a lever, pried the Tardis' doors open, just enough for Jamie to take a glance at the other side.

"Where does it lead now?"

"By now, to nowhere and everywhere."

"It's the only way, isn't it?"

"Thou art the thread that holds the pieces together."

An alarm resounded through the room, with lights fading and coming. A crack appeared on the central column that the Doctor tried to fix with a row of sticking plasters.

Jamie came to his mother and Fiona, busy to fill vials of mercury. That Fiona was a little girl again passed way beyond him as he kissed both women on their foreheads, without a word, and let them come back to their task, though his mother was perplexed by his trembling.

A black cloud of smoke burst out from the crack, leaving Angus McCrimmon with a sooty black face.

"There's a lot of things written here and there, Doctor, but we don't know how to read. We can't be of much help with your device…"

Still perched on the control panel, the Doctor bent over the edge of the console.

"Zoe, would you be kind enough to give us a hand up there?"

The pair of feet fidgeting from a mess of wires under was too busy to give him any answer. He straightened up like he was on springs, his hair in disarray.

"Jamie, could you please…"

The Doctor stopped suddenly when he saw with horror the doors' level move by itself. He span around abruptly, just to see Jamie facing the wide-open gates, almost invisible in the dazzling white light that emanated from the outside. William Wallace was nowhere to be seen.

The Doctor yelled, and dashed to catch him up, but with a last, longing glance, Jamie had already passed through the doors, a little doll in his arms, and the Doctor found himself alone in the actual console room, wandering through time and space.


	25. Epilogue 1: Sweet Sweet Intuition

**Epilogue 1 : Sweet sweet intuition**

Zoe woke with a start. But she did not remember to have snoozed off. Surprised by the darkness around here, she tried to stand up, looking for some light when something at her neck pulled her back. She felt a wire under her fingers, and plastic at her temples, and understood why she could not see anything. Alice's helmet was back. And she was turned off.

Confused, she raised the visor and was treated to the sight of the walls of her cupboard on the Wheel, disappearing behind the controls of Alice.

"Zoe? Zoe? Are you still there? You're late!"

The voice was familiar, but was neither Jamie's nor the Doctor's. Appalled to think she may have dreamt all this, she stumbled through her room and opened the door to the amiable figure of Tanya.

"Ah, Good morning Zoe, we need you at the lab for… Oh my! Are you still in your nightgown?!"

The young librarian looked at herself and gasped when she recognized the sparkly catsuit of her previous adventures.

"You look so pale all of a sudden! Are you sick?"

A hand on her mouth, Zoe took her chance and nodded timidly.

Tanya smiled kindly.

"Alright, Zoe, the Wheel can turn some days without you! I'll warn the chief of your absence today, rest well!"

Alone again, Zoe tried to figure out the course of events since she put on Alice for the first time. Looking at the device, she wondered if she was tangled in a new larger than life illusion when something fell with a whirring noise in the middle of the cushions and bubble wrap covering the floor of her cupboard.

It was a small tube of metal which seemed to have been ejected from a pipe following the wall and disappearing in the ceiling.

Zoe was pretty sure this pipe was not there before, but the moment she tried to take a closer look to it, it burst out, and disappeared without leaving any clue of its origin and purpose.

More and more puzzled, Zoe switched her focus to the small tube, and discovered it was in fact a container for several sheets of paper which, to her great surprise, displayed notes and plans for Alice. A letter was jointed to them, that Zoe began to read, leaning, curled into a ball, against Alice's control panel.

 _My dear Zoe,_

 _Forgive me to send you a simple letter instead of coming to you with the Tardis, but I don't know how the old girl would react on contact with Alice. Besides, as I'm not completely sure of your exact coordinates, I'd rather rely on the homing device of this space-time pneumatic which can detect your temporal track as surely as a truffle pig once found the Venusian mushrooms I was keeping for Christmas' Eve._

 _Anyway, I think you need to know what happened to you, to me, and to Jamie._

 _Surely you must have seen him exit the Tardis, and found yourself anytime at home in the blink of one eye. I first thought he didn't know what he was doing, but when I crossed his gaze, just before the doors closed on him, I realized I was wrong._

 _He knew the phenomena were getting worse, that I couldn't do anything with my stranded Tardis, and that you couldn't use Alice anymore._

 _So, he did what was the most terribly logic thing to do to put an end to all this._

 _Read this well, Zoe._

 _Our Jamie is not dead._

 _He has literally gone out of reality._

 _Thus, as he was no more there to maintain the phenomena along with us, all had simply reverted to normal, like sewed pieces of cloth revert to their former aspect when you pull out the thread that keeps them together._

 _No physic principle can really be applied or describe what is on the other side of that door. Life and death are irrelevant here, as much as time and space, or reality and dream. When I came to see the McCrimmons and told them about his fate, they have been sad, of course, but also proud of him. They are convinced that Jamie has gone to some sort of Avalon, a land of fairies where all the bravest warriors are supposed to be carried away. And truth is, I think they are right in a way._

 _But whether Jamie is a story, a concept, or whatever, one thing you can be sure is that he's still looking after us, as he always did, and as he will always do._

 _Goodbye, my dear Zoe. I wish you and Alice a glorious life together, with the help of this last gift from your old Doctor. And don't forget:_ _science without conscience is nothing but ruin to the soul._

 _The Doctor._

With a trembling hand, Zoe wiped her damp cheeks and put Alice on her eyes. For a moment, she stayed still, looking at the stars flowing through her visor until Alice purred gently at her neck. She raised a smile, which soon turned into breathless giggles when her companion began to tease her all over her body.

Shortly after, Zoe brushed aside her dishevelled hair and spread the notes left by the Doctor around her, examining them closely while nibbling playfully at the wire at her neck.

Then she set to work, eager but light hearted to think that this time, wherever they may go, they would be complete.


	26. Epilogue 2: Sweet Freedom

**Epilogue 2: sweet freedom**

The Doctor jumped when the pneumatic tube burst out in a thousand little pieces. Clearing the smoke with his hand and a good amount of cough, he grumbled about the rubbish of modern engineering. The Tardis could be an old unreliable thing at times, but at least, she still worked.

And indeed, there was absolutely no trace of her past struggle. The console room, as well as Skye Island, was in perfect order and shape, as if nothing had ever happened but the strange dream of a lonely Time Lord.

He bowed over the console room, suddenly nostalgic; when he felt something tender and gentle, like a warm hand, embrace his chest tightly, soothing his hearts. He smiled, sensing this familiar hand slide on his when he pulled a lever and let the Tardis take him to another journey.

He did not know about his future - and truth is, he did not really want to – but he knew that his past was in good hands, and that, one day, he would join them.


	27. Epilogue 3:Ashes Of Dreams

**Epilogue 3: Ashes of dreams.**

Sat in absolute whiteness, Jamie removed his hand from the stuff doll he was hugging, and put it in his sporran. Doing so, he caught a glimpse of something shining in the little pocket. Intrigued, he produced a golden fob watch, which he opened cautiously. In the cover, the following words were engraved with the Doctor's handwriting: "set me at two o'clock."

Shrugging, the young highlander executed himself. Some golden smoke escaped from the watch... and that was all.

He rested his chin on his knees, pondering while his eyes wandered the nothingness about this strange last gift from his lovely wee chappie. He smiled wryly. He hoped the Doctor and Zoe were alright.

Suddenly, a whirring noise came to his ears.

He turned around slowly, and was treated to the sight of the Tardis console, and the blue, twinkling eyes of the Doctor. His Doctor.

"Come along Jamie, we have a new world to see…" he said, holding out his hand to him.

Jamie took it without a word. His turtleneck sweater felt warm on his skin when he led himself guide to the main doors, which opened to a bright sunshine. At the doorstep, the Doctor paused.

"Oh, and, Jamie…"

"Aye, Doctor?"

The Time Lord smiled shyly.

"Thanks for coming back for me."

Jamie smiled in return, and hand in hand, they began together their journey for a new world, a new day to see.


End file.
